Ponoka & Rimbey Adult Learning Society
Who We Are
The Ponoka & Rimbey Adult Learning Society (PRALS) is a small, nonprofit organization operated with the goal of helping adult learners access education in the Ponoka and Rimbey areas. To do this, we have two Adult Learning Centres -- one in each community -- where courses, tutoring, and other events are held.
Though we operate fairly independently day-to-day, we work under the guidelines of our two community partners, who each have their own missions which we work to fulfill.
One part of our funding comes from the Community Adult Learning Program (CALP), a directive of the Government of Alberta which aims to provide foundational learning programs to adult Albertans. CALP's programs primarily focus on literacy (reading/writing) and numeracy (math skills), with additional programming digital literacy (computer skills), ELL (English Language Learning, usually for newcomers to Canada), foundational life skills (problem-solving, decision-making, communication, etc) and community capacity-building (job search/prep help, resume writing, and community engagement). In short, CALP does a little bit of a lot of things!
The other portion of our funding comes from Campus Alberta Central (CAC), an organization jointly funded by Red Deer Polytechnic and Olds College, which exists to offer post-secondary opportunities to rural residents who may live too far from campus to access them. CAC provides us with our Learning Centre spaces, funding to coordinate sign-ups of rural residents into post-secondary programming, has a variety of online courses available for students who can't make it to campus, and has even built a classroom lab in our Ponoka location for local Health Care Aide and Practical Nursing courses.
Together, these two organizations provide our funding and allow us to do what we do -- helping adults through their life-long learning journeys, one step at a time.
What We Do
Our primary goal is to help adult community members enhance their existing skills and learn new ones. We achieve this by offering classes and one-on-one sessions with a learning coach in a supportive, inclusive, and flexible environment. Our focus areas include literacy, numeracy, English language learning, and computer skills.
Additionally, we provide continuing education programs in partnership with Red Deer Polytechnic and Olds College of Agriculture & Technology, along with a variety of workshops and information sessions throughout the year.
Our collaboration with Campus Alberta Central has successfully brought post-secondary certificate and diploma programs to the Ponoka Learning Centre.
Campus Alberta Central
Campus Alberta Central (CAC) is a joint venture between Olds College of Agriculture & Technology and Red Deer Polytechnic that provides post-secondary learning opportunities in communities throughout Central Alberta. CAC works with community members and local employers to identify high-demand programs in areas such as trades, health care, business, and human services.
The Ponoka location currently offers the Practical Nurse Diploma program every three years. Our current course is waitlisted and starts September 2nd, 2026. The next round of applications will open in October 2027 for a Fall 2028 start.
To learn more about Campus Alberta Central and the programs they offer online and in our community, click the button below to visit the CAC website.
