6/1/2010 - Jackson, Miss.

America Reads-Mississippi (ARM) Jackson State Region will kick off member recruitment for the 2010-11 program year with information sessions throughout June and July.

The sessions will be held at the Sally M. Barksdale Educational Resource Center on the Jackson State University main campus at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. June 7, 14, 21, 28 and July 12. Persons of interest should only attend one session.

ARM members tutor full-time during the school day, before and after school, over breaks and in the summer. Members support school and community efforts to increase parental and community support and involvement, recruit volunteers and attend monthly training to gain skills necessary to meet service obligations.

Members who successfully complete 1,700 hours in one year will receive the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award worth $5,350, which can be used to attend college and/or pay off current qualified student loans.

ARM is awarded 350 full-time membership slots each year. Currently, ARM members are serving in 89 school sites across the state; schools select the members they want to serve in the classrooms at that site.

ARM is made possible through a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service and operates regionally through a partnership with five of Mississippi’s public universities. Oversight at the state level is a joint effort through the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service and the State Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL). The IHL Board of Trustees, which governs public universities, has committed to helping ensure students are ready for college and teachers receive first-rate training at universities across the state.

For more information visit americareadsms.org or contact Della Archie, JSU Regional Coordinator, at (601) 979-1474.

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