Contact: Ricci Graham: (510) 763-0370

Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-09) announced today that the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) will award five Oakland-based organizations a series of 2012 AmeriCorps grants totaling $3,210,500.

Grants awarded by AmeriCorps are directed to organizations that sponsor national service programs concerning community needs in education, military and veteran families, economic opportunities, health, and environmental stewardship. This year, CNCS focused on channeling AmeriCorps funding to organizations that emphasized education, veterans, military families, and disaster relief.

“I applaud AmeriCorps for its continued commitment to improving the quality of early learning opportunities for young children in Oakland,” said Congresswoman Lee. “These investments in our children provide a strong start for literacy, physical health, and improved academic learning.  To win the future, we must continue to provide the necessary support for education to ensure that our children have a bright and productive future.” 

Reading Partners California received an AmeriCorps grant of $1,130,500. The funds will be used to recruit and manage community volunteers to provide one-on-one literacy tutoring to low-income K-5 students at low-performing schools throughout California.

Other AmeriCorps grant recipients include:

• Playworks Education Energized will be awarded $1,040,000 for its “coaches-in-residence” program that serves low-income elementary school children. The program provides sports and other programming designed to improve student discipline.
• Super Stars Literacy will be awarded $372,384 to support in-school and after-school literacy tutorial services for economically-disadvantage K-5 students in the cities of Oakland and Hayward.
• Reading Partners – Literacy Intervention will receive $239,400 grant to support reading centers located in understaffed schools in California, New York, the District of Columbia and North Carolina.
• Safe Passages will be awarded $428,216 to provide academic tutoring, conflict mediation and mentoring to high-need middle school students.

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