There Are Children Waiting for Me

Delores Bell, Experience Corps volunteer member, Baltimore

During my short time with Experience Corps I've felt like my life has meaning. I have a reason for getting up in the morning, knowing that I am going to help a child. When they say, "Miss Bell, I need some help," or "Miss Bell, will you help me," it gives me a feeling that I am needed. You cannot imagine the joy that it brings me. I now have a purpose to get up in the morning, knowing that there are children waiting for me.

A Key Ingredient to Learning

Valerie Blackwell, Brehms Lane Elementary School, Baltimore

Can a child learn anything on an empty stomach? No, that's why a dedicated Experience Corps/AmeriCorps member, Mary Williams, prepared a full-course breakfast for her class. Ms. Williams also makes flash cards and buys materials like other manipulatives and rewards that she uses in her work to improve student's literacy skills.

I really didn't know what was wrong

Iesha Lewis, student's mother, New York

"She wasn't reading to me at all before the tutoring. She would read 'cat' and 'dog,' only words that are so common. I was extremely worried. I really didn't know what was wrong. Now she reads with the other kids."

Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, Baltimore

"Experience Corps is well-understood to be cost-effective and well-documented to increase student achievement and reduce behavior problems."

The Center for American Progress

"Experience Corps makes a significant difference building a positive environment for learning, helps students achieve" and serves as "a cost-effective way to improve the quality of education and supplement overworked teachers."