News Release

May 4, 2007

AmeriCorps celebration slated

A public program celebrating Santa Barbara County Education Office’s AppleCorps program will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. on May 15 at Monroe School in the Santa Barbara Elementary School District, 431 Flora Vista Drive, Santa Barbara.

The event is part of the first-ever national AmeriCorps Week, May 13-19, recognizing that the number of Americans who have taken the AmeriCorps pledge to “get things done for America” and dedicated themselves to a year of intense service in exchange for an education award, will pass the half-million mark this spring.

AppleCorps, SBCEO’s program, has been serving low-level learners in our county in K-8 schools from Carpinteria to Cuyama for the last six years, and will learn this month if another three-year grant has been funded for 31 full-time and 10 part-time tutors to begin in early August. The tutors’ main focus is literacy tutoring and helping schools with volunteer recruitment and emergency preparedness.

The May 15 program will feature a new video with current and past members, ranging in age from 17-81 years old, sharing their experiences, along with brief presentations from the AmeriCorps programs at the American Red Cross and the Public Library. A panel of members from all three groups will also answer questions.

More information is available from Dana Drobny, program manager, 964-4710, ext. 4404 or americorps@sbceo.org; or Art Fisher, program director, 964-4710, ext. 4400 or afisher@sbceo.org.