Our local AmeriCorps program is one of the first programs to start up in the country. We have received funding to sponsor 20 to 25 AmeriCorps members for each eleven-month term. At the end of their term of service AmeriCorps members receive $4,725 towards their higher education goals. It is a win-win opportunity all the way around.
Our members serve in rural mountain communities of the Colorado Rockies, covering a several hundred-mile region of the College district. Our mission for 1999 was to increase self-reliance by developing program members and by identifying and providing needed services to at-risk youth and their parents in a collaborative and responsive environment with human service agencies from both Garfield and Lake Counties.""
As of 1999, eleven full-time and five part-time members successfully graduated from this AmeriCorps program. The three members serving in schools surpassed the program goal for involvement with youth by 25%; we exceeded our goals for new contacts with youth by nearly 160%. 90% of the targeted youths' school grades increased by our goal of one grade level in math, science, and social studies. 80% of targeted youth raised their grade one level in English and reading. Most of these youth were ""English as a second language"" students. (Spanish is their first language.) Surveys completed by local teachers showed a 100% satisfaction regarding the performance and involvement of AmeriCorps members.
In social service agencies, AmeriCorps members more than doubled their expected number of service hours in group contacts, spending time in 2,950 group contact projects. Members in social service agencies served nearly 3,100 individuals.
In our first quarter for 1999 We had eighteen full-time members newly enrolled in an eleven-month commitment to service in our communities.
Nine members were serving in schools. We have already achieved 89% of our goal regarding student contacts and over double our goal for group tutoring. In youth centers, new members collaborated between communities to schedule events that involve kids from various areas, representing a wide range of ethnic and socio-economic diversity. In social service agencies, surveys show a decrease in dangerous behaviors.
Anecdotal stories from our CMC AmeriCorps members past & present
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- ""The ESL students I work with are truly amazing. They have an eagerness for learning and a respect for teachers and the school like I have never seen before. Two of the boys [in middle school] speak very little English. Together, we work on vocabulary and pronunciation in both Spanish and English. I hope I am as patient with them as they are with me. They never laugh at my feeble attempts to communicate with them, they smile and nod encouragingly as I stumble with the 'll' sound or forget to roll my r's"".