Daemen Offering Summer Reading Camps to Students in Seneca Babcock and Fruit Belt Neighborhoods
Daemen College is again offering summer reading camps to low-income youths in Buffalo’s Fruit Belt and Seneca Babcock neighborhoods. This year, 145 students will participate in the two-week camps, which are designed to boost literacy levels and assist students with serious reading deficiencies.
Daemen’s Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement (CSCCE) and the Thomas Reynolds Center for Special Education and After-School Programs at Daemen (The Reynolds Center) are collaborating on the project, and will provide volunteer instructors; four Daemen College Global Studies students from China will be among them.
This year’s camps have been made possible, in part, through grants from The Josephine Goodyear Foundation Fund and The Children's Foundation of Erie County. The Providence Fund provided assistance for the Fruit Belt Reading Camp.
The camps will take place Monday-Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. - noon in each neighborhood. The Fruit Belt reading camp runs from July 7-17, 2008, at St. John Baptist Church. The Seneca Babcock reading camp will take place July 28-August 7, 2008, at Seneca Street Church in Seneca Babcock.
"Although ELA scores have generally increased over the last three years within the Buffalo Public Schools (Buffalo News June 24, 2008), the city's 2007 ELA test results showed that 65% of Buffalo students from 3rd-8th grade were not reading at grade level (www.wgrz.com 2/25/08),” noted Elizabeth Wright, Executive Director of The Reynolds Center.
“Our reading camps offer research based curricula to the students in an effort to prevent loss of reading skills over the summer break. In addition, through generous community foundation support we are able to equip students with backpacks and grade-level school supplies so they hit the ground running in September."
According to Literacy Volunteers, 25% of the population 18+, cannot read in Erie County. Moreover, the 2000 census revealed that 37% of the Fruit Belt population did not complete high school.
“This program fills a vital need for students in Seneca Babcock and the Fruit Belt. There are many students struggling with serious reading deficiencies in both neighborhoods,” noted Cheryl Bird, Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement. “Daemen has been assisting students in Seneca Babcock through after-school programs for 10 years – and the reading camps are a valuable addition. One very positive result is that we are seeing a higher high school graduation rate among students there now.
“Our program of assistance to residents of the Fruit Belt was initiated more recently, and our goal there is the same: to provide assistance to make it possible for more young people to lead successful lives.”
Other Recent News Releases
6-26-08: Daemen College Visual Arts Students, Together with Grover Cleveland High School International Club Students, Create “International Community Mural”
6-16-08: Daemen Names Thomas P. Wojciechowski Director of Web Communications
6-16-08: Daemen College Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement Sponsors “Business to Business: A Green Jobs Workshop” on June 20
6-12-08: Daemen College Names Susan M. Marchione Service Learning Coordinator
