The Mesa County Business Education Foundation in association with School District 51 sponsors a program that requires little of your time but can make a world of difference and potentially change the life of a child. Each Wednesday afternoon beginning in October volunteers are needed to work one on one for about 40 minutes with a third or fourth grader developing better reading/comprehension skills. Research locally has shown that this small effort has led to better test scores for students who have had this time of one on one time with an adult.
The District offers a two-hour training course and assigns the volunteers to one of nine schools where teachers select students to participate. The Foundation pays for the required background check. Volunteers can sign up for one semester or for the entire school year. The Chamber urges area employers to consider giving time off to their workers who may want to participate. To learn more about the program, can call Darcy at the Grand Junction Chamber office (970-263-2916 or darcy@gjchamber.org) or speak directly to April Hart at Mesa County Valley School District 51 (april.hart@d51@d51schools.org or 970-254-5114).