Superior AmeriCorps Continues To Receive Funding

[HOUGHTON, MI August 8, 2017—] BHK Child Development Center, the fiscal agency for Superior AmeriCorps, was awarded another three years of funding to continue running the local AmeriCorps program. Superior AmeriCorps first received funding in 1997, and has been in continuous operation since then. It is one of the longest standing AmeriCorps programs in the state of Michigan.

Superior AmeriCorps is a service-based program that recruits members on a yearly basis to serve children in schools in Baraga and Houghton counties. Members are trained on reading and literacy interventions to use with students who are struggling to learn how to read. In the schools and preschools they serve in, members work one-on-one or in small groups with students, and strive to foster an interest in and love for reading, while building fluency, letter recognition, identification of site words, and reading comprehension skills. Reading is one of the most important skills for students in grades K-3 to master, as their education shifts from learning to read, to reading to learn once they enter fourth grade. Superior AmeriCorps will continue to do its part in providing access to reading support for students in need.

Research indicates that one of the biggest factors predicting academic reading success in children is their access to books at home, and the amount of time spent reading aloud with someone at home. Superior AmeriCorps donates books to the children they serve, and the members spend time each week reading out loud with these children. Members also plan, organize and implement community service projects throughout their service year, which begins at the end of August.

Any interested schools wanting to host an AmeriCorps member, or anyone interested in becoming an AmeriCorps member can contact the program director at 906.487.6600 x145.

Superior AmeriCorps is a nonprofit, service-based organization that strives to help all children achieve reading proficiency by grade four. BHK Child Development Center is a nonprofit agency that coordinates multiple community programs including Head Start, Great Start, Great Explorations, and Superior AmeriCorps.