Literacy in Malvern
Malvern Family Resource Centre is located in northeast Scarborough servicing the twelve neighborhoods of Malvern. In February of 1983, the Malvern Resource Centre was opened. The Malvern Resource Centre has overcome many obstacles to get where they are today. Only one year after being opened, the resource centre’s funding ended and was run by volunteers of the community center. Since the beginning of the resource centre’s history, the people of Malvern have helped to keep this community center alive, by volunteering their personal time to help the center function appropriately. After two years of fighting strong, The Malvern Family Resource Centre began to receive funding again, from the United Way. By 1993, the community center was moved into its own space. The Malvern Resource center is committed to meeting the needs and diversity of the Malvern Community through advocacy and delivery of accessible, effective programs and activities. The main goal of the Malvern Family Resource Centre (MFRC) is to offer the greater community of Malvern, services that are free of charge. They offer assistance with legal aid, an ID clinic and counseling. MFRC provides social, recreational, and educational programs and services within a supportive and safe environment. MFRC also tries to involve and encourage community participation through outreach efforts. They also provide current and appropriate community resource information and referral service. Literacy in Canada has become a major problem in past few years. Ontario has started provincial testing for each grade to help to cut the numbers down but many of the children have a literacy problem before they take the test and this does not offer much help to them. The results for these tests are very low in specific areas in Ontario specifically Scarborough. Teachers are trying to prepare the children before they take the test but there is only so much of guidance one teacher can provide for each student in a class of 30 students.