Huon 26Ten Community's story
Building a community of independent learners
The Huon 26Ten Community is all about people learning together. We are building a community of independent learners with strong reading, writing, numeracy and digital skills, a place where local residents and workers have the confidence and skills they need to flourish in their work and family life.
It started in 2015 when Geeveston Community Centre (GeCo) won a grant to help local residents with literacy and numeracy needs. The community is making huge, positive steps towards its goal.
Huon Valley’s 26Ten Community coordinator, known affectionately as ‘Lucy Literacy’, is a long-standing, trusted resident and expert adult literacy tutor. Lucy collaborates with businesses and community groups in Dover, Geeveston, Franklin, Cygnet and Huonville to help workers, job seekers, seniors, parents and young people lift their skills. She also supports skilled volunteers who tutor local learners.
The Huon 26Ten Community’s activities include:
- offering adult literacy tutor volunteer opportunities in partnership with TasTAFE and Libraries Tasmania
- fun and inclusive adult literacy and numeracy workshops such as gardening, cooking, woodworking, money talk, making storybooks
- empowering digital literacy workshops in partnership with Digital Ready for Daily Life such as Canva software workshops
- lively family literacy activities such as National Simultaneous Storytime with wayraparattee Child and Family Learning Centre.
Huon 26Ten Community is supported by Libraries Tasmania, Huon Valley Council, Huon Aquaculture, Mitchell Plastic Welding, Tierney Law, Duggans Civil and Earthworks, and many more local organisations and businesses.
Project: Huon 26Ten Community
Host: Geeveston Community Centre
Location: Huon Valley
Community Coordinator: Lucy
Launched: 2021
More success stories:
Brent's story
"It's not just about reading and writing. It's about being able to operate in the modern environment."
The benefits and joy for all of training in the workplace
"It changes their world. It takes people from 'oh this is as good as it gets,' to 'well maybe I could do something more than this.' And that's magic. So if your organisation has any possibility of getting a 26Ten project, run with it."
