“It's inspiring to hear 4-6 year olds talking about going to college like their AmeriCorps friends.” —ACEE Program Director Mary Ellen Isaacs
January 2007
Expanding Horizons
In June 2006, OneStar Foundation, which oversees all AmeriCorps programs in Texas, awarded ACEE a three-year grant that has made significant expansion possible. This funding has enabled ACEE to grow from 25 full-time members to 30 full-time members, and has also allowed for the addition of 42 part-time positions that are filled by University of Texas students. ACEE has also partnered with two new schools, Sanchez Elementary and the brand new Lucy Read Pre-K Demonstration School, to raise its number of school partnerships to six. ACEE members will affect 1,870 children this year through one-to-one and small group early literacy intervention, ongoing classroom instructional support to 85 teachers, and after-school enrichment classes.
Program Director Mary Ellen Isaacs is thrilled with the opportunities that the grant provides the program, and in particular, she cites the addition of the 42 part-time members as being especially significant. "This provides a meaningful community service experience, as well as excellent career development opportunities, to current University of Texas students," Isaacs said. "ACEE members are excellent ambassadors for UT in the east Austin community, and our members are also powerful role models for the children we work with. It's inspiring to hear 4-6 year olds talking about going to college like their AmeriCorps friends."
An expanded focus has also been placed on the work done with parents at special workshops throughout the year. ACEE members will teach parents about the school district's early reading curriculum and engage them in making literacy games and activities that they can use to support reading development at home. This will reinforce the work that ACEE members are doing at the schools and allow the children to come to school with an increased knowledge of the components of literacy.
ACEE will continue to strengthen partnerships with other literacy providers in town through jointly sponsored events, such as the literacy-based Family Fun Nights implemented with Reading Is Fundamental of Austin, and the Día de los niños/Día de los libros bilingual family literacy event in April. In addition, full-time members will provide support to these partners and others (e.g., Austin Children's Museum, KIPP Austin College Prep, and Reach Out And Read) during after school, evening, and weekend hours.