SALINAS VALLEY — Monterey County Office of Education (MCOE) recently honored all AmeriCorps members who completed their 2022-23 service year.
County Superintendent of Schools Deneen Guss, Director of Leadership and School Systems Roberto Nunez, AmeriCorps Program Coordinator Lauren Patron-Castro and prior Program Development and Retention Specialist Irma Lopez hosted a special ceremony July 26 to give thanks to the AmeriCorps service volunteers for their time and commitment to the program.
Each member was presented with service recognition certificates and a personalized thank you letter from Guss.
“For over 23 years, MCOE’s AmeriCorps program, Monterey County United for Literacy, has made a difference in the lives of countless young readers by engaging service volunteers to take on the task of improving literacy in local schools,” according to MCOE.
Recognizing the critical, academic challenges many young students face, the mission of the Monterey County United for Literacy program is to enable local children to read well and independently by the end of the third grade so that they can read to learn in the fourth grade and beyond.
In the 2022-23 school year, Monterey County United for Literacy members serviced four schools in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, 12 schools in the Alisal Union School District, three schools in the King City Union School District and one school in Chualar Union School District, totaling 20 schools and hundreds of children who benefited from the tutoring services.
AmeriCorps members are dedicated to raising the literacy levels of struggling kindergarten through fourth-grade students by providing small group reading tutoring during and after school at school sites, community events, local nonprofit facilities and various other capacities.
“Measurable growth among these students is gauged with literacy assessments and teacher progress reports, and the results are remarkable,” stated MCOE. “Many students increased their reading comprehension by one grade level or more.”
AmeriCorps members commit to 1,700 hours of service time for full-time volunteers and 900 hours of service time for part-time volunteers over a span of 11 months.
According to MCOE, these members make extreme personal sacrifices, not only with their time but also their finances, choosing to live off of a living allowance designed only to help support basic needs.
“It is with the deepest gratitude that the entire Monterey County education community, including staff, parents and students, thank the AmeriCorps members for their dedication to serving others and the community and helping to improve achievement in the area of literacy,” stated MCOE.
