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Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program participates in MLK Day Service Project

Literacy Center of West Michigan
1/16/12 05:01pm
metro Nonprofit Dispatches

This dispatch was added by one of our Nonprofit Neighbors. It does not represent the editorial voice of The Rapidian or Community Media Center.

Families volunteered to benefit victims of natural disasters and learned about house fire prevention.
Children in the Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program work together to make a comfort blanket for house fire victims.

Children in the Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program work together to make a comfort blanket for house fire victims. /Literacy Center of West Michigan

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About the Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program

The Schools of Hope Family Literacy program is a collaboration between the Heart of West Michigan United Way, Grand Rapids Public Schools and the Literacy Center of West Michigan. The program was developed to assist a growing number of families within the Schools of Hope who need basic English and literacy skills. It is modeled after a successful program developed by the National Center for Family Literacy. The program contains four components: education for the parent, education for the child, parent and child time together (PACT) and parenting discussion time.

Ben Oliver, AmeriCorps ESL teacher, speaks with a family in the Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program.

Ben Oliver, AmeriCorps ESL teacher, speaks with a family in the Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program. /Literacy Center of West Michigan

Families participating in the Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program attended a service project on the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service at the Boys & Girls Club of Grand Rapids Youth Commonwealth. Families volunteered to help local and international victims of natural disasters while learning how to prevent one of Grand Rapids’ most frequent disasters – house fires.

AmeriCorps volunteers from the Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program partnered with the American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids to plan a day of service. Families in the Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program received a fire safety presentation catered toward English Language Learners, presented by the American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids. The families assembled comfort kits that will be distributed to local house fire victims and constructed sleeping mats (made using ordinary plastic grocery bags) for the victims of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

The Schools of Hope Family Literacy Program serves parents of children enrolled in Grand Rapids Public Schools by increasing their capacity to support their children through adult English as a Second Language classes. This program is a partnership between the Heart of West Michigan United Way, Literacy Center of West Michigan and Grand Rapids Public Schools.  Seven Grand Rapids Public Schools elementary schools and approximately 200 families participate in the program.

The Corporation for National and Community Service leads the annual MLK Day of Service by working with the King Center in Atlanta and thousands of nonprofit groups, faith-based organizations and schools and businesses nationwide. For more information about MLK Day of Service and what’s taking place across the country, visit www.MLKDay.gov.

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