Participants Wanting Tutoring by an
AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteer

Volunteers for Community Impact’s Gran Plan

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our way of life and impacted how all of us work, worship, and live.  We are all practicing physical distancing when in social settings, wearing protective masks, and many of us are now working from home.  Schools have changed how they deliver education and many have opted for distance learning, or virtual schooling by requiring students to attend classes on-line.  Families are now trying to balance how they can assist their children in attending on-line education while meeting their own work requirements.  Volunteers for Community Impact (VCI) can help!  VCI has a plan to help you… we call it THE GRAN PLAN.

VCI’s GRAN PLAN will provide local families with an AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteer who can assist parents with their children’s education.  While our AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteers cannot replace parents or teachers, they can assist families by providing positive mentorship and educational assistance to students.

How it Works

For over 45 years VCI has operated The AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program of Central Florida.  During the past half-century, our AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteers have made positive impacts on the lives of thousands of children.  We have achieved these results by partnering with public schools, Head Start organizations, Boys & Girls Clubs, and kindergartens all across Central Florida.  However, many of these organizations have either limited or eliminated in-person services, opting for virtual alternatives.

Our AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteers have served in schools providing in-classroom assistance to students who need a little extra attention to succeed academically.  We have decided to provide these services directly to families by having our AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteers utilize teleconference video solutions to assist your children in their school work.

Families apply to VCI to receive an AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteer. Parents will meet with one of our coordinators who will ascertain your child’s needs and how our volunteers can assist you in providing for your child’s educational needs.   To learn more about this new demonstration project please follow the links below.

FORMS

Client Family Application

FLIER

FAQs

A.    AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteers provide educational assistance like tutoring and mentoring support to students.

A.   VCI is a public charity and we do not charge for our services.  We will happily accept donations to fund our operations, but donations are never required to receive assistance from us.

A.  AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteers will provide assistance to young students from K through 4th grade.

B.   Because our AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteers are not professional educators, their assistance is not the best option for older students who require specialized tutoring in higher-level coursework like algebra or calculus. They can however provide tremendous assistance to the families of young children by providing guidance and direction to children to help them complete their coursework.

A.   Not exactly. Due to the pandemic, our volunteers will provide educational assistance to your child by using teleconferencing computer applications.

A.   Our AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteers work with young elementary school students. They can help students with English, Math and other basic educational support.  They can also help pre-K and Kindergarten students with learning about shapes, colors, numbers and the alphabet.  They can also provide story-telling activities to young students, by reading them stories and then asking them questions about the story to instill learning objectives.

A.   This is a “demonstration project” meaning that we intend it to be a temporary solution during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, depending on the success of this initiative we may decide to continue it in some way.  You complete an application and submit it to us. One of our coordinators will follow up with you to determine if our volunteers are able to assist your family.

B.   Because of limited resources, we are limiting this project to only provide assistance to families with incomes of $65,000 or less. You will be asked to provide documentation of your income if approved for the program.

C.   An adult must be at the home to accept or initiate the video-conference call with one of our volunteers. The adult should be at home during the video call in order to clarify questions, provide oversight, and additional support.  If you are working from home due to the pandemic, and have to balance your work obligations with also having to help your child on their school work, we believe that this project will provide you with the support you need.

A.   That will be determined by your needs. It’s possible that you’re working from home due to the pandemic and need assistance with your child’s virtual classwork during the day. It’s also possible that you are working on-site at your job or your child is attending school in person, and your child needs homework help in the evening, while you’re trying to cook dinner or do household chores. Our AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteers could provide assistance in either case. We will craft a partnership plan with you detailing the days and times our AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteers will call you and provide distance educational assistance to your child.

A.   If accepted into the program, you will be asked to provide feedback forms to track the AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteer’s impact. You will be asked to tell us how effective the AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteer was in helping your child meet their educational goals, how much improvement your child had due to the volunteer’s assistance, and provide us with your thoughts on how we can improve the project.

B.   Also, you or another adult must be in the home to accept or initiate the video call with our volunteer. You or another adult should also be at home while our volunteers provide assistance so that you can answer questions or provide any needed oversight.

C.   You must also promise to not offer gifts or payments of any kind to our volunteers. Our volunteers provide services without accepting gifts or payments from those we help.  You have to promise not to impact the integrity of our program by offering additional payments or gifts to your AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Volunteer.

A.   That’s correct. We are providing AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program educational assistance to families in Central Florida to try and help working families during this trying time. While we’d love for you to donate to us, so we can cover costs and expand the numbers of families we help, we will never condition our support on your ability to pay.

AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Coordinators

-Beatrice Puebla-
-Beatrice Puebla-AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Manager
(407) 298-4180 ext. 106
-Michelle Bailey-
-Michelle Bailey-AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Coordinator
(407) 298-4180 ext. 107
-Claribel Matias-
-Claribel Matias-AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Coordinator
(407) 298-4180 ext. 110
-Kenia Bridges-
-Kenia Bridges-FGP Volunteer Coordinator
(407) 298-4180 ext. 102
-Christina Madden Bergman-
-Christina Madden Bergman-AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Coordinator
(407) 298-4180

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Volunteers for Community Impact

  • 3545 Lake Breeze Drive
    Orlando, FL 32808

  • 407.298.4180

  • Contact us

  • Monday – Friday 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM