Appalread

Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College is committed to providing high quality educational services within our region. One of our goals is to work with educators, business leaders and community leaders in developing programs that contribute to the long-term growth and diversification of West Virginia’s economy. We recognize that the provision of educational programming must extend beyond the traditional classroom and that in order to compete in a global market we must continuously ask ourselves – what can we still do? The answer lies in APPALREAD.

APPALREAD is an AmeriCorps program sponsored by Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College and the Corporation for National and Community Service. APPALREAD’s mission is to help children and families in southern West Virginia gain the literacy skills they need to succeed in life. Each year APPALREAD places full time AmeriCorps members in Boone, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo, McDowell and Wyoming Counties. These members commit to serving 1,700 hours as Reading Coaches in local elementary schools and Head Start Centers, tutoring and mentoring children, ages 0 – 8 years, who have been identified as “at-risk” in literacy. Over the past twelve years APPALREAD’s AmeriCorps members have provided a high quality service for thousands of children. As a result, these children have shown an average increase in their reading skills of 14 to 17 percentile annually.

In exchange for their service, APPALREAD AmeriCorps members receive a modest living allowance ($11,400 in 2008), an educational award of $4,725, and health benefits if eligible. Member participate in over 100 hours of high quality training, focusing on the five reading proficiencies as outlined by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and leadership development. Recruitment for the new school year begins in May. All interested individuals must attend a recruitment workshop in June before applying for a position. Applicants must also take a literacy proficiency quiz, adminstered during the workshop, to be eligible for an interview.

If you are interested in serving as an AmeriCorps member, please call the APPALREAD office at 304.896.7371 to obtain a schedule of the 2008 recruitment workshops.