Dane County Awarded Competitive AmeriCorps Grant to Continue After-School Services
July 05, 2017
Ariana Vruwink 608-283-1477
Dane County’s Partners for After School Success (PASS) AmeriCorps program has been awarded over $386,000 in funds from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to further literacy tutoring, extended learning programs and volunteer services, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi announced today.
The competitive grant will allow PASS to place 52 AmeriCorps members in predominately low-income and resource-scarce areas to enhance middle and high school students’ academic achievement and school engagement. The AmeriCorps grant totals $386,548 and will help the Dane County Department of Human Services extend PASS’s mission of addressing unmet youth educational needs through after-school programming.
“Quality after-school programs like PASS can make a significant difference in the lives of children by providing the resources and mentorship they need to flourish,” said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. “Having PASS AmeriCorps recognized at the federal level highlights the program’s impact and provides the funding we need to serve the youth in our community.”
Dane County’s PASS literacy tutoring program saw over 200 students use its services during the 2015-16 school year. 79% of participants made some reading grains and 56% of participants made target reading gains by the end of the academic year.
From 2012 to 2016, nearly 1500 students served reported increased engagement in school pre to post survey.
PASS AmeriCorps began in 2008 and assists over 700 youth a year. The program works with 13 partner agencies to serve such communities as Madison, Sun Prairie, McFarland, Cross Plains, Verona and Middleton. PASS’s 25 host sites range from public schools and private agencies to neighborhood centers and youth resource centers.
Wisconsin received $18,595,357 from the 2017 AmeriCorps funding cycle. Nearly $936,000 will go to AmeriCorps programs focused on serving Dane County residents.