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Fresno State volunteers trained and ready for ReadFresno
The first contingent of Fresno State volunteers is getting its assignments after training for participation in ReadFresno, a priority effort in the university’s engagement with the immediate Fresno community.
ReadFresno is a collaborative of nonprofits, institutions, businesses, and individuals concerned about early childhood literacy in Fresno, specifically trying to get every child in Fresno Unified Schools to read at or above grade level by third grade.
The idea is to get children reading at an early-enough age that they’ll be successful in school, leading them to success in higher education and with the rest of their lives.
The community benefits, too, because a better-educated work force is more attractive to business developers, ReadFresno director Kristine Walter said during one of the Fresno State training sessions.
Walter said she was impressed by the early response from Fresno State, which led to a standing-room-only crowd at the first training session on campus.
The program is uncomplicated. Volunteers go to schools once or twice a week to read with children who are struggling to improve their reading skills. Some of the students do not get adult support of their reading efforts at home.
In his call for university participation, President John Welty said that ReadFresno gives volunteers “the opportunity to read to children and instill the wonder of discovery and learning that will last a lifetime.” The president addressed the importance of ReadFresno in his January speech to the Spring Faculty/Staff Assembly.
To encourage participation, the university will match leave up to 40 hours per calendar year of volunteer service.
The campus has been involved with the ReadFresno effort previously by gathering children’s books to be shared with the young program participants. Fresno State’s efforts produced 30,000 books last semester, alone.
New and “gently-used” books are given to the children as they complete them. It may be the first book the child has owned, said Linda McAlexander, a retired teacher who coordinates training for volunteers and is a liaison with the school district.
“There are few, if any, ways that a volunteer can impact a person’s entire life more than helping him or her learn to read,” said Chris Fiorentino, Fresno State’s director of Civic Engagement and Service-Learning. ReadFresno is a wonderful project that can help transform our community, one child at a time.”
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