Former House Leader Majority

The AmeriCorps Bridging Borders Program is a collaborative effort between San José State University (SJSU), community organizations, and local public schools, engaging more than 40 SJSU students and community members in direct service to address the unmet needs of low-income, high-risk immigrant families in Santa Clara County (Center for Community Learning & Leadership, 2009).

Bridging Borders was founded in 2002 by Debra David, the current Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies at SJSU. The program is funded by CaliforniaVolunteers, the office responsible for managing state AmeriCorps programs (CaliforniaVolunteers, 2009). CaliforniaVolunteers awards three-year grants to its education programs, including Bridging Borders.

The mission of the AmeriCorps Bridging Borders Project is to support the educational needs of low-income, K-8 English-Language Learners (ELLs) who function at “far-below-basic” levels through literacy tutoring (including the areas of fluency, reading comprehension, phonemic awareness and phonics, decoding, writing, word recognition, and word conventions) that supplements regular classroom instruction. More than 800 students receive at least 40 hours of 1 on 1 or small-group tutoring each program year.

Project employees serve as AmeriCorps members in one of two capacities: as tutors, AmeriCorps members provide direct service in literacy tutoring at high-risk schools or after-school programs; as Site Leaders, AmeriCorps members also provide direct literacy tutoring, and are collectively responsible for recruiting, training, and managing more than 300 service-learning students from SJSU and 500 or more community volunteers to assist with academic tutoring or homework, health and parent education, and extracurricular activities at community-based placement sites for a total of 1,500 hours. Specific tasks and responsibilities may differ according to placement site. AmeriCorps members are not to perform service in the absence of a site supervisor, teacher, or other staff member.

Once AmeriCorps members are hired and placed at a site, they are required to attend a two-day orientation (2 hours and 8 hours, respectively) to review the program handbook of policies and procedures, performance measurements, and such topics as best practices for working with youth, communication, and time management.

Members are also required to attend bi-weekly seminars that address relevant or timely topics and issues, including mandatory reporting, civic engagement, and project planning.

Before AmeriCorps members may begin service at a site, they must be fingerprinted through the San José State University Police Department.

Literacy tutors commit to 450-hour service terms (360 service hours, 90 training and member-development hours). In order to evenly allot service hours throughout the 10-month term of service, tutors must serve between 10-12 hours a week. Site Leaders commit to 900-hour service terms (720 service hours, 180 training and member-development hours), and serve around 90 hours a week in order to evenly allocate service hours over the 10-month term of service. The schedule of direct service is determined in agreement between the member and the site supervisor, along with the appropriate teaching staff.

AmeriCorps members who provide direct literacy tutoring services at a placement site are required to complete assessments to gauge student learning and progress.

All AmeriCorps members receive free service training and Community Emergency Response Training (CERT), and gain education and non-profit skills and experience through working with experienced professionals and community members. Members also receive an AmeriCorps Segal Education Award upon the completion of a service term ($1,250 for 450 hours, $2,362.50 for 900 hours), plus a living allowance distributed monthly ($3,018 for 450 hours, $6,035 for 900 hours).

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philanthropy

Voluntary, organized efforts intended for socially useful purposes. Philanthropic groups existed in the ancient civilizations of the Middle East, Greece, and Rome: an endowment supported Plato's Academy (c. 387 BC) for some 900 years; the Islamic waqf (religious endowment) dates to the 7th century AD; and the medieval Christian church administered trusts for benevolent purposes. Merchants in 17th- and 18th-century western Europe founded organizations for worthy causes. Starting in the late 19th century, large personal fortunes led to the creation of private foundations that bequeathed gifts totaling millions and then billions in support of the arts, education, medical research, public policy, social services, environmental causes, and other special interests. See Andrew Carnegie; B'nai B'rith; Bill Gates; George Peabody; Rockefeller Foundation; Straus family.

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