AmeriCorps VISTA member - Literacy Initiatives

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Job opportunity:

United Way of North Idaho’s (UWNI) Literacy Initiatives include Ready! for Kindergarten, a book drive, and a summer learning loss awareness campaign. UWNI has three focus areas: education, income/basic needs, and health. These areas often overlap, knowing that if a child is sick and/or their family cannot afford healthcare, they will likely not succeed in school. The VISTA position supporting our Youth Literacy Initiatives will focus on early childhood education, which will have some overlap with income and basic needs areas, which are affected by a lack of financial stability. Ideally, a strong education for children in low-income or poverty-stricken families will break the cycle and create an opportunity for better lives. Our Ready! for Kindergarten program is a free program for parents and caregivers with children ages 0-5 years. The program provides childcare while the parent receives instruction on how to "play with a purpose" to ensure their child is ready entering kindergarten. The program follows the school year calendar and has three courses in three different school districts. The program is currently managed by a program coordinator, community impact coordinator, instructors and volunteers and serves an average of 150 families in each school district. The VISTA will be working with the planning committee, which includes Head Start, Early Head Start, St. Vincent DePaul, Panhandle Health District, Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls/Lakeland School Districts, North Idaho College and United Way. The United Way Book Drive was created as a mechanism for obtaining books for low-income children all across the state. In Idaho, low-income homes only average one book for 300 children. This book drive works to provide books to those who need them, which often times has the most impact on Summer Slide. Therefore, the book drive is part of a Summer Slide awareness campaign.

This is a one-year term paid VISTA job opportunity with benefits through the AmeriCorps VISTA program. Hours are 8-5 Monday thru Friday with flexibility.