For Immediate Release
Educare and KVCAP’s Child & Family Services to launch First4 AmeriCorps Project
August 6, 2019
Waterville, Maine – The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has awarded $152,209 in AmeriCorps funding to provide member opportunities to work in infant and preschool classrooms throughout the Kennebec Valley Community Action Program (KVCAP) service area. KVCAP Child & Family Services will provide an additional $88,533 to the project, entitled First4 AmeriCorps.
This program will concentrate on the CNCS focus area of improving school readiness for economically disadvantaged young children. Five full-time members (1700 hours) and 10 part-time members (900 hours) will be embedded into classrooms operated at Educare Central Maine and with community partners including public preschool partnerships, HomeStart Family Child Care homes, and childcare center collaborations in Kennebec and Somerset counties. First4 AmeriCorps members will provide services to support disadvantaged preschool students and have a better understanding of trauma-informed teaching practices, adverse childhood experiences and will be able to support social-emotional development in children.
“First4 AmeriCorps is an exciting opportunity to enhance both children’s academic and social/emotional development to better prepare them for school readiness. Enriching our youngest, most vulnerable children’s experiences from trained, diverse AmeriCorps members can have a positive and lasting effect on children, their parents, and transition to kindergarten,” says Tracye Fortin, Director, KVCAP Child & Family Services/Educare. “We hope to expand this model in years to come.”
Contact: Erin Merrill, Director of Development
56 Drummond Avenue, Waterville, ME 04901
Phone: 207-859-1678
Email: erinm@kvcap.org