PGFL Grants Program
2025 Grants Program
In 2025, the Peter Gzowski Foundation for Literacy provided support for two types of grants.
ONE-YEAR SMALL GRANTS PROGRAM
The One-Year Small Grants program provides a grant of $20,000 to support literacy project which build capacity or enhance promising practices. Grants may also be used for program expenses. This year we received 50 applications and awarded 15 grants.
2025 One-Year Grants Awards
Centre d’éducation et de formation pour adultes | Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Adult Literacy for Francophone newcomers to Canada
CÉFA will develop our literacy and basic skills programming directed toward Francophone newcomers, who need specialized training and services to enhance their French reading and writing proficiency and successfully integrate to our community.
Community Learning Alternatives (Hastings County and District) | Belleville, ON
CLA Capacity Building
CLA will invest in creating an updated volunteer development strategy to provide a sustainable adult basic education program that addresses staffing limitations through a volunteer recruitment and training model—supported by strong staff coordination, effective marketing, thoughtful design, defined operations, and engaged community partners.
Deafblind Community Services | Toronto, ON
Enhancing Training Excellence for Skills Development Specialists
CNIB Deafblind Community Services Skills Development Program is seeking funding to update our program manual and develop an intensive training program for instructors. This will ensure effective training and development, equipping specialists to provide essential Literacy and Basic Skills training to adults who are blind, Deafblind or have low vision.
Fort Nelson Community Literacy Society | Fort Nelson, BC
The Little Town That Could
We are seeking operational funding to sustain literacy programs, advocacy services, and vital community resources. With funding cuts and limited opportunities, this support is crucial to keeping our centre open and ensuring continued service for those who rely on us. Despite economic downturns, including devastating job losses in forestry and oil and gas over the last 15 years, Fort Nelson has endured. We continue to reinvent ourselves, and now, our population is shifting again. The Fort Nelson Community Literacy Society is prepared to meet this moment—to support individuals as they settle, adapt, and thrive.
Gateway Centre for Learning | Midland, ON
Communication Plan Implementation for Outreach & Organization Awareness
Our project applies our strategic Communication Plan to a new website and rack cards creating a unified/effective message. These will showcase the breadth of our initiatives, share success stories/achievements, develop new channels to reach new learners and build awareness.
Hamilton and District Literacy Council | Hamilton, ON
Divergent Learner Tutor Training
The funding will enable us to certify our Tutor Coordinator as an Orton Gillingham Practitioner. Once certified, the coordinator will develop and teach selected tutors from our volunteer tutor pool the techniques and approaches used and then match them with one of our divergent learners.
Iroquois Falls Adult Learning Centre | Cochrane, ON
SafeServe: Inclusive Safe Food Handling Training Certification
The Iroquois Falls Adult Learning Centre will develop the course SafeServe: Inclusive Safe Food Handling Certification designed for adult Ontarians with literacy challenges. This course will be submitted for Ministry of Health approval to gain Safe Food Handling certification to support employment in the food service industry.
Literacy in Kamloops Society | Kamloops, BC
Bridging Generations
Bridging Generations fosters intergenerational literacy by connecting older adults with younger learners through storytelling, reading, and writing activities. This family literacy program strengthens literacy skills, preserves cultural narratives, and promotes lifelong learning. By engaging multiple generations, it builds connections and supports literacy development in a learner-centred, community-based environment.
Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy | Toronto, ON
Exploring Canada’s Literacy Landscape: Innovative Approaches
In this project, we will research, highlight and share an innovative approach/program from each of the provinces and territories through 13 podcasts. An accompanying printed resource will be developed (English and French) explaining each model, implementation process, outcomes, and strategies for programs wanting to introduce the approach into their framework.
Peterborough Native Learning Centre | Peterborough, ON
Advancing Adult Digital Literacy for Inclusive Access & Workforce Growth
The Peterborough Native Learning Program (PNLP) seeks support to enhance adult digital literacy, ensuring equitable access to education, employment, and community resources. Through culturally relevant, learner-centered training, we empower Indigenous and non-Indigenous adults with essential digital skills, fostering workforce readiness, economic participation, and lifelong learning opportunities.
Prince Edward Learning Centre | Picton, ON
Prince Edward County – Calling all Volunteers
Prince Edward Learning Centre will update all areas of its literacy volunteer program, including outreach, intake, orientation ongoing training and recognition to expand program reach in a rural area, ensure excellence, and enable volunteers to support adult learning and contribute to PELC’s mission.
Project READ Literacy Network Waterloo-Wellington | Kitchener, ON
Get Set Learn Together
We propose to develop, run and evaluate family literacy programs for newcoming parents in the Muslim and Somalian communities in Waterloo Region. Many of these families and especially the mothers feel isolated and want to have a sense of belonging to the community. Our family literacy programs not only develop literacy skills in parents and enhance the skills of pre-school children, but they also create a new community and a sense of well-being. The program will be run once in coordination with the Coalition of Muslim Women and the Somali Canadian Association of Waterloo Region.
READ Surrey/White Rock Society | Surrey, BC
Tutor Training and Website Update
We will update and digitize our tutor training materials to build capacity and increase the effectiveness of our adult literacy program. Tutors need current, user-friendly resources to provide the best tutoring possible to the learners. We will revamp our website and include short videos so that we can reach new learners in an engaging, non-print way.
The NorQuest College Foundation | Edmonton, AB
Literacy on Location: Meeting Learners Where They’re At
The Literacy on Location project will extend foundational skills programming, literacy supports and learning opportunities to the most vulnerable neighbours in Alberta’s Whitecourt area, meeting learners where they are at – including the local soup kitchen, transitional housing and homelessness program site, and the women’s shelter.
Yukon Learn Society | Whitehorse, YK
Seniors Outreach Tutor Program
Yukon Learn’s Seniors Outreach Computer Tutor Program provides free, hands-on support to help seniors build confidence using digital technology. Through drop-in labs and direct support, participants learn essential skills like internet safety, email use, and device troubleshooting, empowering them to stay connected, informed, and independent in an increasingly digital world. This funding will allow Yukon Learn Society to expand our Seniors Outreach Computer Tutor Program by reaching more communities across Yukon.
MULTI-YEAR GRANTS PROGRAM
The Multi-Year Grants program provides grants of $80,000 over two years. These grants are for larger projects or more intensive activity that can not be completed in one year. Supported are projects that build capacity or enhance promising practices. This year we received 48 applications and awarded 5 grants.
2025 Multi-Year Grants Awards
John Howard Society of Manitoba | Winnipeg, MB
Growing and Sustaining Adult Literacy Education for Justice-Involved Learners in Manitoba
This project aims to more than double the reach of learner-centered literacy programming for currently and formerly incarcerated adults in Manitoba over two years. This program funding will act as two-year bridge funding that will allow the JHSM literacy department to rise beyond the limitations we’ve historically faced in both time and resources, and in doing so, expand our services to better meet actual population need while actively working to secure sustained funding beyond those two years.
Literacy Association of Nova Scotia | Truro, NS
Pathways to Understanding: Culturally Responsive Education for Teaching Mi’kmaw Adult Learners
The current training for adult literacy practitioners in NS lacks comprehensive modules on Mi’kmaq history, culture, and treaty education. This gap hinders the ability of educators to provide culturally responsive and inclusive education to Mi’kmaq adult learners.
Addressing this gap is crucial for fostering decolonization and Truth and Reconciliation. By equipping practitioners with the knowledge and skills to support Mi’kmaq learners, we can create a more inclusive and respectful educational environment. New training modules will be developed by Literacy Nova Scotia for the Nova Scotia Practitioner Training Program, expanding on our previous PGFL-funded work with Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey. These modules will enhance educators’ understanding of Mi’kmaq history, culture, and treaty education, fostering decolonization and Truth and Reconciliation through culturally responsive and inclusive teaching practices.
PALS – Project Adult Literacy Society | Edmonton, AB
LEAD – Literacy, Empowerment, Advancement and Development
Over the next two years, PALS aims to develop a model literacy program for out-of-school youth that acknowledges their specific developmental characteristics and needs. It will be designed for youth aged 18 – 25 to acquire and improve basic reading, writing and comprehension skills to help them successfully transition into adult roles as workers, parents, and citizens, along with other valuable skills such as problem-solving, teamwork and leadership effectively.
Rainbow Literacy and Learning Society | Vulcan, AB
Enhancing Capacity for Rainbow Literacy and Learning Society
Building capacity to create a safe and welcoming environment where adults learn foundational skills in relevant and engaging learning opportunities that meet their personal goals. With this initiative, we would “make the case” that an increase in funding, along with changing the thresholds of where money is allocated, has direct impacts on program delivery and how life-altering this is for our learners.
Willow Creek Community Adult Learning Society | Fort Macleod, AB
Project Full Circle
Our approach is two-fold; coordinate and set-up safe, accessible and welcoming spaces for learners to learn from, either online, hybrid or in-person, from seven different locations in southern Alberta. Secondly, they have access to five distinct programs; Potential Best, I-LAPS, Employment & Education, Adult Basic Education and high school equivalency made possible through the collaboration of five separate learning centres. Students will have access to wrap around services such as tutoring, referrals and community connections. When the effectiveness of this collaborative model has been demonstrated, we can present this to Advanced Education with the merit of the education and employment outcomes and secure support and funding to grow Project Full Circle.