Friendly Visitor Service
Project LEAP
Leadership Education to Address Poverty
SMILE Center
AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) provides full-time members to nonprofit, faith-based and other community organizations, and public agencies to create and expand programs that ultimately bring low-income individuals and communities out of poverty.
The work of Project LEAP is made possible with help from the following:
The Office of Civic Engagement and Service-Learning at California State University, Fresno works to engage students, staff and faculty in community service-learning experiences that are meaningful for the students and for the community served. This office has over 12 years of highly successful experience in providing services and administering programs that address the areas of literacy, school success, housing, the needs of low-income individuals and families, and facilitating service-learning in an academic setting.
Jumpstart brings together at-risk preschool children and university students through one-to-one relationships that focus on building literacy in combination with social and emotional readiness.
ReadFresno pairs volunteer readers with children in grades 1-3 as well as distributes books and other education materials, free of charge, to schools and organizations serving low-income families and at-risk youth in Fresno County.
SMILE Center (Support Makes Involvement in Learning Enjoyable) offers after-school tutoring and mentoring support for at-risk children at two local elementary schools, utilizing students from California State University, Fresno.
University HOPE (Housing Opportunites through Education) is dedicated to building homes for low-income families, improving neighborhoods and, by doing so, providing positive hands-on learning experiences for the volunteering students, faculty, and staff of Fresno State, and the community.
The primary goal of Project LEAP is to provide students at California State University, Fresno with meaningful opportunities to address issues of poverty through leadership education and civic engagement. It is expected that, as a result of their experience with Project LEAP, the university students will become actively engaged in service projects within the community, will develop a more clearly defined civic ethic, and will continue a lifestyle of service in addressing poverty issues beyond their university education.
Project LEAP offers seven service program areas (for more information, click on the picture next to the program description below):
Project LEAP offers seven service program areas (for more information, click on the picture next to the program description below):
Fresno READS (Reading Enrichment and Academic Development through Service) recruits, trains, and places university students as reading tutors, serving to raise the reading and academic abilities of children in kindergarten through third grade.
Friendly Visitor Service provides low-cost, in-home services for seniors who need help with activities of daily living by utilizing university students and selected others as care providers.
About Project LEAP
***Now Accepting Applications!***
To view AmeriCorps VISTA assignment descriptions for all Project LEAP positions, Click Here.
Focus Forward works to build community support of programs and services for children and youth in the Fresno County juvemile justice and child welfare systems. These services include, but are not limited to, career development, mentoring, tutoring, civis engagement opportunities, and transition or aftercare services.
Project LEAP
(Leadership Education to Address Poverty)
(Leadership Education to Address Poverty)
