Literacy Waitākere

Literacy Waitākere is a not-for-profit organisation supporting adult learners to develop critical literacy and digital skills to empower them to embark on a pathway of lifelong learning. Our kaupapa is grounded in the values of Manaakitanga (nurturing and respect), Hapori (everyone has a place; everyone is connected), and Kotahitanga (sharing learning together). We develop, promote, and deliver services and programmes that are designed to be accessible and learner-centred and enable people to realise their full social, cultural and economic potential. We help people in our community build life skills including learner licence, reading, writing and spelling, speaking and listening, prepare for study, healthy living, work readiness, digital literacy, workplace communication, everyday maths and financial literacy. We have published nine books authored by our adult learners as teaching resources and recreational reading material. These books are distributed throughout Aotearoa New Zealand and elevate the voices of our learners' lives and perspectives. Our newest project is an AI literacy programme delivered as part of the Google AI Opportunity Project, which enables us to offer training to support the upskilling of our communities as AI technologies become more widespread.