Northwestern Ontario’s regional backbone — for more than 30 years.
About Literacy Northwest
We’re the regional backbone for adult literacy, foundational skills, and workforce readiness across the Thunder Bay, Kenora, and Rainy River districts — quietly ensuring the system works for the people who depend on it.
Our Vision:
A Northwestern Ontario where every adult, across all communities and cultures, has the literacy and skills needed to live, work, and thrive.
Our Mission:
To improve the quality of life in the communities of Northwestern Ontario by promoting and supporting lifelong learning.
Who We Are
Literacy Northwest is a regional non-profit dedicated to strengthening adult literacy, foundational skills, and workforce readiness across Northwestern Ontario. For more than 30 years, we’ve worked alongside the service providers, agencies, and communities that deliver this work on the ground — supporting them with coordination, training, and advocacy at the regional level.
We don’t run programs directly. We do something different. We build, coordinate, and strengthen the system that makes those programs possible across a territory larger than many countries.
We are the backbone, not the front door.
Learners and employers connect with services through local providers in their own communities. Our job is to make sure those providers have the support, tools, and coordination to do their work well — and that the region’s needs are heard at the provincial level.
What We Do
Our work focuses on three connected pillars that strengthen the regional service ecosystem:
🔗 System Coordination
As the designated Service System Manager for Northwestern Ontario, we coordinate the delivery of Get SET across the region. We support local providers, ensure quality and consistency, and help learners navigate toward the right supports.
📈 Capacity Building
We invest in the professionals who deliver adult education and employment services — through training, resources, communities of practice, and practical tools that help front-line practitioners do their best work.
📣 Advocacy & Research
We give voice to the region’s literacy and skills needs at the provincial level. We track gaps, document impact, and make the case for sustained and equitable investment in Northwestern Ontario communities.
Our Role in the System
Literacy Northwest is the regional network support organization for Get SET in Thunder Bay, Kenora, and Rainy River districts. That’s a formal role assigned by the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development — and it carries real responsibility.
It means we’re accountable for how foundational skills programming is planned, coordinated, and delivered across the region. We work with local service providers to make sure programs are accessible, high-quality, and aligned with both provincial standards and local realities. We monitor outcomes, identify gaps, and report back to shareholders on what’s working — and what still needs investment.
In a region this large and this geographically complex, no one else does this work. That’s why we exist.
What Guides Our Work
Four commitments shape how we show up — for partners, for learners, for the region:
Regional
Northwestern Ontario is not a footnote to Southern Ontario. Distance, geography, and local context shape everything we do.
Coordinated
We connect the dots so learners, providers, employers, and funders aren’t navigating the system alone.
Practitioner-focused
The people doing the daily work with learners are our most important partners. We invest in their skills, tools, and time.
Accountable
We track what we do, measure what matters, and report honestly — to the Ministry, to our partners, and to the region.
Want to Connect?
Whether you’re a learner looking for a program, a service provider wanting to partner, an employer with a hiring need, or a funder exploring impact — we’d like to hear from you.