15 August 2025
$100K Grant from National Bank Supports Early Literacy for First Nations Children in Alberta and B.C.
$100K grant from National Bank provides vital virtual reading tutoring for 100 First Nations children—building skills, confidence, and a brighter future.
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TORONTO (August 15, 2025)—Chapter One is pleased to announce a $100,000 grant from National Bank to support early literacy tutoring for 100 First Nations children in Alberta and British Columbia.
The funding ensures that children who need support to reach grade-level reading can access the one-on-one virtual tutoring they need. Sessions are delivered at home via smartphone by trained Chapter One Early Literacy Interventionists (ELIs), serving families across Calgary, Edmonton, Kamloops and Vancouver.
The reading tutoring program is provided by Chapter One, a nonprofit and registered Canadian charity. The organization recruits tutors from the communities it serves, training them to use Chapter One’s custom software to provide evidence-based high impact tutoring in short, frequent sessions—typically 10 minutes, three to five times a week.
This “short-burst” approach is proven to help children strengthen phonics skills, fluency and confidence. A large randomized controlled trial led by Stanford University researchers found that children who received Chapter One tutoring were twice as likely to achieve phonics benchmarks compared to those who did not.
Contributions to Chapter One come at a crucial time, as an unresolved backlog of 135,000 Jordan’s Principle applications has left hundreds of First Nations families without timely access to essential services, and ongoing wildfires continue to displace families and disrupt children’s learning.
Although Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) is required by law to process applications in 24-48 hours, many families have been waiting up to two years while their children fall even further behind, risking irreversible harm—data shows that children who don’t read at grade level by the end of Grade 3 are four times less likely to graduate high school.
“Helping children learn to read by the end of Grade 3 is one of the most important steps we can take to set them up for success in school and in life, and in the future to give back to their communities. We’re proud to support Chapter One in creating meaningful and lasting change for First Nations children and families in Alberta and British Columbia.”
—Steve Berna, Managing Director and Head of Indigenous Relations, National Bank
Chapter One’s reading support is a lifeline to literacy for displaced families and those living in underserved or remote communities, where professional one-on-one tutoring is often unavailable or unaffordable. Virtual delivery via smartphone or tablet allows children to access personalized literacy support from anywhere with an internet connection.
The timing of the grant coincides with surging demand for reading support across Canada, and also helps sustain reading progress over the summer, when many children experience learning loss.
“National Bank’s support helps prevent the ‘summer slide,’ and ensures children receive the support they need while families wait for ISC to resolve funding delays with Jordan’s Principle. National Bank’s timely investment in its communities will have a lasting impact on children’s futures—especially in communities that historically have had less access to education and literacy resources due to systemic inequities.”
—Fabrice Grover, CEO, Chapter One
A Long-Standing Partnership
National Bank’s partnership with Chapter One began in 2020 through Canadian Western Bank, which joined National Bank in February 2025. Over the past five years, the bank has funded high impact literacy tutoring for 294 children, sponsored the development of seven original children’s e-storybooks co-created with Indigenous writers, illustrators and Elders, and engaged 63 staff in community service through Chapter One’s turnkey Online Reading Volunteer Program. In addition to enabling high impact tutoring from Chapter One’s trained professional tutors, the bank’s employee volunteers provided children with essential motivation and encouragement, delivering over 1,200 weekly reading sessions through Chapter One’s online platform.
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About Chapter One
Chapter One is a global nonprofit and Canadian registered charity that transforms children’s futures by providing one-on-one literacy tutoring at the time children need it the most. In addition to its high-impact tutoring and online reading volunteer programs, Chapter One also co-creates original children’s e-storybooks with the communities it serves, collaborating with Indigenous writers, illustrators, educators and Elders to develop early readers that reflect Indigenous themes, perspectives and priorities. The storybooks feature recorded audio clips of Elders speaking foundational words in the communities’ first languages, grounding children in their culture as they learn to read in English, and providing non-Indigenous participants an opportunity to discover and practice the original languages of these communities. The storybooks are available online to everyone, everywhere, in Chapter One’s Global Free Library.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Denise Orosa
Marketing & Communications Manager, Chapter One
denise.orosa@chapterone.org