America Reads

We pair volunteers aged 55 and older with students K-12 to reinforce reading skills in ways that support their learning environment while addressing particular needs of students at their grade level. America Reads tutors are trained as reading support tutors by literacy experts, and receive support materials that are proven effective from a variety of Nationally acclaimed educational sources.

Our tutors come from all walks of life, with varied backgrounds and professions. All are retired. A few were teachers, some administrators, some are parents or grandparents, some are retired military. We believe, and experience has shown us, that regardless of your work or life history, if you can read, you can make a difference in the life of a child by reading to them, and by helping them improve their skills by reading to you.

In 1997 President Clinton issued the America Reads Challenge. He asked all Americans to join in the effort to improve children's reading achievement. In the same year, Congress funded America Reads to make sure all children can read well by the end of 3rd grade. Our federally funded and annually renewed grant through the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) helps us to ensure that children in our community meet national goals in reading. In addition for the past 5 years, this America Reads program has received an additional grant from our City of Bloomington Martin Luther King Initiative, and we have developed various diversity awareness programs delivered by Volunteers trained specifically for our "American Legacy/Walk a Mile in My Shoes" program, and for another called "The World Needs Me".

Tutors are recruited year round to become volunteers through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, RSVP. After a short intake process, tutors are matched with a teacher in a classroom setting, and begin tutoring or diversity awareness presentations. There is one training event in the fall, and another in the spring. In addition, tutors are invited to attend the special trainings for additional tutoring Program events that take place monthly with program and training materials made possible with a Monroe County Martin Luther King Grant.

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