United Way of Larimer County is proud to kick off Colorado Reading Corps in Northern Colorado this year. Based on a program which began inMinnesota, Colorado Reading Corps provides AmeriCorps members who commit to a year of service as literacy tutors. These AmeriCorps members work one on one with kindergarten to 3rd grade students using proven literacy interventions with the intention of making sure the student is reading at grade level. Students who are reading at grade level by the end of third grade are far more likely to succeed in their future. This year tutors will reach more than 400 students in the Thompson School District and we know that the ripples of their success will reach even farther.

In August, the Loveland Lives United event introduced the Program to the Loveland community. It was an exciting evening where community members heard from Dr. Stan Scheer, the Superintendent of the Thompson School District, Mr. Cecil Gutierrez, Loveland's Mayor and Mr. Gordan Thibedeau, United Way of Larimer County's President and CEO. Tutors have now been serving in their schools for two months. On Wednesday, October 8^th we received a very special visitor, Lt. Governor Joe Garcia. Lt. Governor Garcia's office has focused on early literacy initiatives throughout his term and he was anxious to see the Colorado Reading Corps program in action.

We met at Van Buren Elementary school and Lt. Governor Garcia was able to observe a tutoring session between Kari Arneson, one of the Colorado Reading Corps members, and one of her students, Frances. The Lt. Governor had the opportunity to observe the session, ask questions of the tutor and the student, and then meet with program and school staff to understand the program in even more depth. He seemed to really enjoy his interaction with Kari and her student and even gave some encouragement to Frances, “You got better every time you read!”.

To read more about the Lt. Governor's visit, please view the Loveland Reporter Herald article: http://www.reporterherald.com/news/education/ci_26691769/colorado-reading-corps-efforts-draw-lt-gov-joe