Evans Announces $500,000 Grant to Experience Corps During Ceremony at Shawmont School

PHILADELPHIA, October 26th – State Representative Dwight Evans today joined Rob Tietze, Program Director of Experience Corps Philadelphia, and members of the Shawmont School family in announcing a $500,000 state grant to Experience Corps. The Experience Corps program, operating in 40 schools in Philadelphia and in over 14 cities nationwide, pairs retirees with children in schools in order to improve student achievement as well as foster the health and well-being of the senior citizen volunteers.

“Experience Corps provides a match made in heaven: children in need with senior volunteers willing to help,” stated Representative Evans. “I am proud to provide these resources to this exceptional program, and I am grateful to the Shawmont School for serving as one of several shining examples of how powerful the Experience Corps program is.”

Experience Corps is a school-based national literacy program that recruits, trains, and manages teams of older adults in schools to provide intensive service to support reading and literacy instruction for at-risk children in grades K-5. During the 2004-2005 school year, Experience Corps volunteers will provide approximately 200,000 hours of volunteer service to 3,500 students in 40 schools in Philadelphia. Experience Corps Philadelphia is now in its 9th year of operation and has been designated as the flagship site for the national Experience Corps network.

“It is said that a society should be judged based on how it treats its elderly, its young, and its most vulnerable,” stated Evans. “If this is the case, then Experience Corps stands as a beacon of hope and a perfect model of how best to serve all three at once. Thousands of children and countless seniors have found mutual benefit through this program, and I am delighted to play a role in ensuring that this continues to take place.”

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Last Updated: October 30, 2006