Immigration - Overview - Minnesota Compass

Immigration - Overview - Minnesota Compass

A new online resource makes it easy to find information on the changing demographics of Southwest Minnesota. Minnesota Compass is a nonprofit site let by Wilder Research and dedicated to research in the field of human services. The site provides information, data, and trends on many issues including immigration.
Data in the immigration section of the site can be broken down by region and then analyzed by age, employment, education, county of residence, country of origin, and many other factors.
The site also includes information on aging, education, transportation, the environment, and other issues. All data will be updated later this year to reflect the 2010 Census.
Minnesota Compass is located at: www.mncompass.org. Click on “Immigration” in the topic bar to view immigration data.

Kids Count: Southwest Minn. better than U.S. | Worthington Daily Globe | Worthington, Minnesota

Kids Count: Southwest Minn. better than U.S. | Worthington Daily Globe | Worthington, Minnesota

WORTHINGTON — Counties in southwest Minnesota have more children living in poverty than the state as a whole, according to KIDS COUNT data recently released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The organization releases an annual report on measures of child-well-being on the national, state and community level.

Of the six area counties analyzed, only two — Murray (11 percent) and Rock (11.2 percent) — had a lower percentage of children living in poverty than Minnesota as a whole (11.4 percent).

Considering data from 2008, the most recent available, Cottonwood County had the highest poverty rate with nearly 16 percent. But all area counties fared better than the nation as a whole, where 18 percent of children live in households where the income is below $21,834 for a family of four.

The only county with a significant fluctuation in the past decade was Nobles County, where the rate jumped from 13 percent in 2004 to 19.5 percent in 2007 and down to 15.3 percent in 2008.

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Refugee Class Visits Okoboji

Refugee class visited Okoboji yesterday.

Program Evaluation Surveys

As the first year of our program comes to a close, we would like to evaluate our progress so far. Part of this evaluation is gathering feedback from you, the volunteers, about how we can help you have a more successful and enjoyable experience. We've put together a short survey for all Literacy Volunteers to complete. The survey is available either on paper at Community Ed or online here. Please only complete the survey once.

I'll be making an effort to come to each class and offer all volunteers a paper copy of the survey. These can then be turned in at the front desk in the office. All surveys and answers are anonymous and confidential.

We look forward to your feedback!

Quarter 4 Update--Good work!

We're just about finished with our report for quarter four of our first year and we have some great news to share with you all. As usual, all of our volunteers have come through strong and done a wonderful job! Of course we wouldn't expect anything else :).

During the 2009-2010 Adult Basic Education fiscal year (May-April), students in English, GED, and citizenship classes who worked with tutors had a level advancement rate (the percentage of students gained a level in their English literacy skills) of 61%! That is 26% higher than the level advancement rate of 35% for students who did not work with volunteers and 21% higher than the goal set by the state. Tutored students also had a higher retention rate than untutored students for May 2009-April 2010. 94% of tutored students stayed with their ABE program, compared to 70% for untutored students.

Our volunteers and students are also off to a great start this year. For the period of May-June 2010, 80% of tutored students were retained in their program and 26% have already completed a level. Among untutored students, 60% have been retained and 16% have made a level advancement.

What does all this mean? Basically it means that you are doing a great job! Working with adult learns can be slow, challenging, and occasionally frustrating, but as you can see, you are making a difference. Keep up the good work!

Even Start Summer Vacation

Even Start Family Literacy classes will be on summer vacation beginning the week of July 26th. Classes will resume in late August. All other Adult Basic Education classes will continue through the summer.

Want to volunteer with a different class while Even Start is on vacation? Ask the volunteer coordinator for a list of classes needing volunteers, literacy.volunteers@isd518.net or 507-372-1219.

Minnesota Profile - Volunteering in America

This year, Minnesota had the third highest rate of volunteerism in the nation, way to go!

Some facts about Minnesota volunteers:
* 1.5 million volunteers
* 37.5% of residents volunteer - ranking them 3rd among the 50 states and Washington, DC
* 171.1 million hours of service
* 42.1 hours per resident - ranking them 12th among the 50 states and Washington, DC
* $3.6 billion of service contributed

See the full report here.

Read the Star Tribune's article here.

AmeriCorps Minnesota - This I Believe

This is a video essay created for AmeriCorps week by AmeriCorps members across Minnesota. Watch and learn about all the exciting things happening across the state!

Dist. 518 now offering food program | Worthington Daily Globe | Worthington, Minnesota

Worthington District 518 is again participating in the Summer Food Program. The program is open to all youths ages 1-18 who attend Worthington District 518 schools or other schools in the district.  Free meals will be provided at the following times and locations:

Breakfast, 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at both the West Learning Center and Prairie Elementary; lunch, from 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at Prairie Elementary, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at the West Learning Center, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at Watland Park (Douglas Avenue and Evelyn Street) and from noon to 1 p.m. at the new Worthington Area YMCA.

Adults may also eat for $2.

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Welcome to our new Summer Reads VISTAs!

Worthington District 518 recently received a grant to fund two additional VISTA positions in the Summer School program.  The Summer Reads VISTAs will work for eight weeks with kids in grades K-3rd on basic reading and literacy.  They will provide individual tutoring for a small group of students throughout the summer, as well as helping plan literacy enrichment activities with Summer School, the library, Even Start, and ABE child care.  The individual attention the VISTAs provide can be an enormous benefit to children struggling with reading.  We're so excited to see what a difference our new VISTAs will make!

Meet the new summer VISTAs here

Maki studies the science behind volunteerism | Worthington Daily Globe | Worthington, Minnesota

The art of volunteering was practically a way of life for the post-World War II generation, many of whom took their civic and religious responsibilities seriously enough to devote a considerable amount of time and energy to them.

In today’s fast-paced, “24/7” world, however, there are some who feel that volunteers are a dying breed. And yet some, such as 2003 Cloquet High School graduate Alexander Maki, believe volunteerism is actually the wave of the future.
 
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Learning about how to learn

Below is a short video about one way to help your students retain what they're learning.

MLC Links to Literacy Raffle

The Minnesota Literacy Council, our sponsoring organization, is holding a fund raising raffle. Please see below for details:

Get your tickets NOW for the Literacy Council's third annual Links to Literacy Raffle on June 8! Just $10 gives you a chance to win 1 of 7 fantastic prizes, including:

*
a 42" Plasma Television
*
a North Shore Getaway
*
a Minnesota Twins Fan package and much, much more! (Visit http://www.themlc.org/raffle for a full prize list.)

The prize drawing is Tuesday June 8 at 3 p.m. at the literacy council's main office, but you need not be present to win. Best of all, all raffle proceeds go to our life-changing literacy programs for Minnesota children and adults.

For tickets ($10 each):

* Stop by the Minnesota Literacy Council main office, 756 Transfer Road, St. Paul, between 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday – Friday

OR

* Contact Linda Vinz, Raffle Coordinator, at lvinz@theMLC.org or 651-645-2277 ext. 236.

All tickets must be purchased by Tuesday, June 8 at noon.

Thanks everyone for a making our AmeriCorps Open House a success!

Thanks to everyone who helped make our first AmeriCorps Open House such a success! We had a great turn out, almost 100 people attended, including several AmeriCorps alumni. Twelve Literacy Volunteers received awards for their service from the Minnesota Literacy Council. More pictures are posted on the Literacy Volunteers website. We also put together a special slide show of the year with thank yous from some of the students, which can be viewed here. Several ABE and Even Start classes also wrote thank you notes to their volunteers for the open house. If you'd like to see them, just stop by my office.

Thanks again!

Worthington ISD 518 Literacy Volunteers

A look back on a successful year...

Open House will celebrate AmeriCorps’ local efforts | Worthington Daily Globe | Worthington, Minnesota

Open House will celebrate AmeriCorps’ local efforts | Worthington Daily Globe | Worthington, Minnesota

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Happy Volunteer Week!!

April 19th-23rd is National Volunteer Week and Community Education would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for your hard work!  The students, teachers and staff in Adult Basic Education, Even Start, and after school programs truly appreciate what you do.  Please stop by this week for a special "thank you" treat!

Good work!

We are just finishing our report for the Jan.-March quarter and want to share the results!

This quarter, Literacy Volunteers served over 700 hours in Adult Basic Education, Even Start Family Literacy, and after school Homework Help programs.  That hard work has paid off too!  Eighty percent of adult students working with a volunteer were retained in their programs, compared to an average of 70% for students without a tutor.  Of the tutored adult students,45% improved their English skills.  That's 8% higher than the level advancement rate for un-tutored students.  Over half of tutored students in the after school programs improved their grades or GPA.

Thanks for all your hard work, it really does make a difference!

Buddhist temple a part of life for many: Wat Lao Siri Buddharam Temple has nearly 600 members | Worthington Daily Globe | Worthington, Minnesota

Buddhist temple a part of life for many: Wat Lao Siri Buddharam Temple has nearly 600 members | Worthington Daily Globe | Worthington, Minnesota: "WORTHINGTON — Upon entering the Wat Lao Siri Buddharam Temple on a recent morning, Thongsay Chantharath removed her shoes and knelt down at the foot of a small staircase that leads into the building’s primary room of worship."

AmeriCorps Open House

NCIC and Community Education's Literacy Volunteers are hosting an open house to celebrate their VISTA and Promise Fellow AmeriCorps projects during AmeriCorps Week, May 8th-15th.

We would like to invite all volunteers, students, staff, teachers, and family members who have been involved in these projects, as well as members of the community to come help us celebrate a successful year. Refreshments will be provided.

• What: Displays of student work, awards for volunteers and students, presentations about Worthington's AmeriCorps programs
• When: Wed. May 12th, 4:30-6:30 pm. Presentations and awards will be from 5:00-6:00
• Where: West Learning Center, 117 11th Ave. Large Gym