By Lindsey Wiebe

THE province's top literacy advocacy group will stay open for another year and a half, thanks to a concession from the federal government.

That will give Literacy Partners of Manitoba time to move ahead with a new initiative for immigrants, but there's no guarantee the group can keep its doors open past the summer of 2008, said executive director Lorri Apps.

Literacy Partners employs two full-time and four part-time staffers. Last year the organization thought it would be forced to shut by mid-March, after the federal government announced $17.7 million in literacy funding cuts nationwide, including $280,000 for Literacy Partners.

But Apps said she found out in December that groups with previous contracts would have those contracts honoured. The Literacy Partners contract runs until next August.

"We really do credit the Conservatives with rethinking things," said Apps.

The group is moving ahead with programming in the meantime, including Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), an international literacy program that got its local debut yesterday.

Through the project, immigrants to Manitoba will be hired as "home visitors," and trained to teach English and French. These visitors will go into the homes of new immigrant families, helping parents and preschoolers develop literacy skills together.

HIPPY got its start in Israel in 1969, and today is used in nine countries worldwide.

The Winnipeg Foundation has awarded Literacy Partners a $45,000 grant to launch the project. However, the group still needs an extra $300,000 in operating funds to bring it to fruition.

"We think that the uniqueness of it will be of interest to many funders," said Apps. "Other programs in place require that parent and child go to a location. The nice piece about this is you have a new immigrant (who) doesn't know the city, doesn't have to leave their home. We'll go to them."

The pilot project will be run with the help of the St. James-Assiniboia Parent Child Coalition. The coalition is an arm of the area's Neighbourhood Resource Network, a volunteer group of residents and organizations looking to improve life in the neighbourhood.

The NRN has an active subgroup focused on diversity, and currently works with 30 to 40 immigrant families living in St. James-Assiniboia.

lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca