Volunteer USA and Pearson Help Families Celebrate Learning Success!

Pearson's Deb Harden, along with Apopka GROWS staff hand out care packages of books provided by Pearson to the children participants

The Apopka GROWS Family Literacy Academy held a festive year-end party to close out the academic year this month. Families celebrated their accomplishments with their teachers and Pearson representative Deb Harden. Pearson- an international media and education company- is a corporate sponsor of the family literacy program. Ms. Harden joined children in the Pre-K program, who donned cap and gown to mark their success and joy in learning. Pearson also provided parents and children with a care package of books to take home for summer reading fun. The Apopka GROWS Family Literacy Academy serves many of the Hispanic families in the community and is consistently ranked as one of the top-performing family literacy programs in the state. It served

as the site for the development of our integrated curriculum approach, and teaching techniques used by the Academy have been studied by University of Florida researchers. The program is managed by Volunteer USA Foundation and supported by a Community-based Family Literacy Coalition.

News you can Blog About

Volunteer USA unveils its new blog this month. Our president, Liza McFadden will write about a wide variety of topics from emerging trends in the nonprofit world, to new and exciting ideas about volunteering either individually or as a family. Take a look and share your point of view too by clicking here.

A Story of Success: English Education, College & Career

Family Literacy Academy student Ligia Martinez and daughter Carol Suarez

“This year I was able to start focusing on my career goals with my daughter Carol by my side at Hispanic Unity Family Literacy Academy. I am eternally grateful for this wonderful opportunity to get my first and most valuable steps to education in this country.” -Ligia Martinez, Family Literacy Student

Read more about this success story here.

Volunteer USA Foundation is proud to offer the Love. Read. Learn! ™, a series of programs dedicated to helping parents teach children the joys of learning through literacy from birth on. The programs include an educational baby journal for parents of newborns and workshops for parents of Pre-K and elementary-aged children. Parents, schools and community organizations can learn more about Love.Read.Learn! ™ here.

Teen Trendsetters™--Wrapping up the School Year!

Teen reading mentors and their elementary school buddies are celebrating the end of the school year across the southeast. The students are enjoying final reading sessions and award ceremonies with key sponsors like Comcast and Florida Power & Light. Learn more about Teen Trendsetters™ by clicking here.