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AmeriCorps/America Reads
» Division of Community Engagement
Since 1995, the VCU AmeriCorps and America Reads programs have been providing literacy tutoring services to elementary schools in the Richmond area. As the longest-running AmeriCorps program in the state, VCU was 
the first in Virginia to compete and attain national funding through the Corporation for National and Community Service. The university has received more than $4 million in grants from the CNCS and in 2001 ranked third among all AmeriCorps programs in the U.S.
With 57 members providing services to 16 school sites in Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico, approximately 4,800 students in kindergarten through grade three have received tutoring services since 1999. In the 2007-08 service year alone more than 40,000 hours of community service were completed by members of the program.
In addition to serving the community through literacy initiatives, members also participate in three major service projects annually — Make a Difference Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and National and Global Youth Service Day. Activities on these service days have included education awareness seminars, community cleanups, beautification projects and youth outreach. The VCU AmeriCorps program also sponsors an Adopt-A-Street location at the corner of Bowling Green Road and North 17th Street.
Get involved
To support this program or get involved as a volunteer, contact Erin Burke Brown at burkeem@vcu.edu.