The Centre for Community Learning & Development (CCL&D), formerly known as East End Literacy, was founded in 1979 as a community-based literacy organization serving downtown east Toronto. In 2006, the organization changed its name to reflect its growing initiatives and on-going commitment to community development and social inclusion.

Today, CCL&D delivers programs in:

  • Adult Literacy
  • Leadership Development
  • Immigrant Integration
  • Civic Engagement
  • Skills Development

We equip individuals with tools for individual growth and empower them to promote positive change in their community.

We nurture new possibilities on three levels:

The Individual

Through training, workshops, seminars, courses, and internship opportunities, our programs and initiatives help grow and develop greater self-awareness broaden knowledge and competency base gain skills and experience that increase employability be more meaningfully engaged in communities.

The Community

Our programs are designed so that even while learning, participants have opportunities to apply their skills by conducting research, delivering workshops, and facilitating learning circles.

These activities help:

  • transform relationships
  • build trust
  • promote respect and recognition
  • increase knowledge and awareness
  • change the rules and values that sustain patterns of exclusion
  • promote more inclusive, participatory cultures of civic engagement
  • transform taken-for-granted collective habits of thinking and behaviour

Service Agencies

Through their participation as volunteers or interns, our trainees and graduates add value and capacity to service organizations. These trainees and graduates help the organizations link to individuals experiencing isolation, including newcomers, through provision of culturally and linguistically sensitive supports. As a result of their increased social capital, and involvement in service agencies, they serve as information and referral sources. Our clients promote community development efforts, and tap into existing social networks to ensure programs and services are delivered to bring about meaningful change in people’s lives.