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Email The Community Service Society (CSS) works to innovate and implement programs with the hope that the most successful and cost-effective models might be subject of wider-scale implementation with public support. The award-winning Experience Corps Literacy Program at CSS has changed the lives of thousands of New York City public school children and older adults. Launched in 1995, Experience Corps brings together a cadre of ethnically and racially diverse older adult retired volunteers, a network of public school sites, and a meticulous, research-based approach to help children at risk for academic failure. Working in teams of 10-15, Experience Corps volunteers serve in schools in four neighborhoods that are identified as low in income, but rich in older adult resources: the South Bronx; Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; Central Harlem; and Southeast Queens. Because Experience Corps volunteers come from the very neighborhoods in which they serve, their “buy-in” to, and engagement with, the program is extraordinary.
Now in its 13 year, Experience Corps is no longer merely a promising start-up. The program’s strategic design has yielded tangible results. It has also earned a strong reputation among educators, local and national officials, and experts. Throughout the program’s operation, CSS has monitored student outcomes through pre-, mid-year, and post-testing which have consistently demonstrated impressive results. In 2007, CSS participated in a rigorous national outcomes evaluation. The research findings show that Experience Corps has a statistically significant and substantively important positive effect on the reading abilities of first- and second-graders.
As lifelong residents of the neighborhoods in which they serve, Experience Corps volunteers have a personal stake in their communities. They are committed to ensuring that “their” children receive the extra help they need to stay on track—for school and for life. And with thousands of baby boomers turning 55 in New York City each year, there is a constant and growing pool of prospective volunteers willing and able to make significant contributions to children, schools, and communities throughout New York City.
Now in its 13 year, Experience Corps is no longer merely a promising start-up. The program’s strategic design has yielded tangible results. It has also earned a strong reputation among educators, local and national officials, and experts. Throughout the program’s operation, CSS has monitored student outcomes through pre-, mid-year, and post-testing which have consistently demonstrated impressive results. In 2007, CSS participated in a rigorous national outcomes evaluation. The research findings show that Experience Corps has a statistically significant and substantively important positive effect on the reading abilities of first- and second-graders.
As lifelong residents of the neighborhoods in which they serve, Experience Corps volunteers have a personal stake in their communities. They are committed to ensuring that “their” children receive the extra help they need to stay on track—for school and for life. And with thousands of baby boomers turning 55 in New York City each year, there is a constant and growing pool of prospective volunteers willing and able to make significant contributions to children, schools, and communities throughout New York City.
Older Americans Helping Children
Experience Corps enables older Americans to serve their communities and help children succeed in school.The Experience Corps is a successful program with three goals:
- to give older adults a meaningful place to put their energies;
- to help older adults make an enduring contribution to their communities;
- to share the benefits of their experience with the next generation of schoolchildren in need of role models and academic support.
And it’s working. Every year we are learning, improving, and expanding to help more students and give more volunteers a chance to serve.
Today, over 1,000 Experience Corps volunteers are tutoring and mentoring public school children in a dozen cities across the country.
CSS believes that volunteers are most successful in their own communities. Most of our volunteers come from and live in the neighborhoods they serve. They reflect the area’s ethnic/racial composition and have a stake in the education of its children.
Experience Corps, part of a Civic Ventures initiative, is hosted in New York City by the Community Service Society (CSS), through which over 150 volunteers (ages 55 and over) tutor one-on-one and assist in classrooms for children at risk of developing reading difficulties.
Kemba J. Tamar
Director, Experience Corps212.614.5499
ktamar@cssny.org