United Way of Greater Chattanooga has been awarded a $234,323 grant from the Tennessee Commission on National and Community Service to host 19 full-time AmeriCorps Members.

The grant will allow United Way to increase the impact of the community’s literacy programs offered at various locations around Hamilton County, including services at the organization’s 18 Neighborhood Reading Centers.

The 19 chosen AmeriCorp Members’ work will focus on activities for both children and adults that promote literacy and school readiness. Their role includes tutoring school-aged children, teaching parents how to read and interact with their children and how to develop language, cognitive, and motor skills in their pre-school child through United Way’s Project Ready for School initiative.

As part of this unique initiative which is offered through a collaboration among early childhood development partners in the community, parents and caregivers have access to free resources such as parenting classes, age-appropriate books mailed directly to their child’s home each month, and the resources offered within the 18 neighborhood reading centers.

“As the reading centers grow, neighborhood residents are asking for extended operation hours and additional service needs are more and more apparent,” said Meisha Jones, Project Ready for School liaison.

The addition of the AmeriCorps Members will expand the base of volunteers working in various sites that offer literacy programs in the community. The Members will enable the Neighborhood Reading Centers to have hours of operation and availability of services that better suite the needs of the people within the neighborhoods.

United Way’s Volunteer Center will begin recruiting the AmeriCorps Members in November, but the members’ community service will not start until after Jan. 1. For general information about AmeriCorps visit www.americorps.org or contact United Way’s Volunteer Center at 752-0300 for specific information about the local member recruitment.

United Way of Greater Chattanooga funds local programs that improve community health, strengthen families, and assure readiness for school and work. Thanks to an endowment fund that covers all overhead and administrative expenses, 100 percent of contributions go directly to these services that help individuals and families in greater Chattanooga, northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama.

The Corporation for National and Community Service provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country through three programs: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. Together, the programs of the Corporation engage more than two million Americans each year in meeting critical needs in education, the environment, public safety, homeland security, and other areas.