Marshall County Retired Senior Volunteer Program, Incorporated

Name: Marshall County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, Inc. Number of Volunteers: 400, 158 in Outcome Assignments Federal Grant Amount: $157,500 Non-federal Resources: $71,026 an Estimate 400 RSVP Volunteers Will Serve With Marshall County RSVP. of This Number 158 RSVP Volunteers Will Be Placed in Outcome Assignments. Some of Their Activities Will Include: Reading Buddies With K-4TH Graders Who Are Reading Below Grade Level, Free Tax Preparation and Electronic Filing for Low to Moderate Income and Elderly Taxpayers, Water Quality Monitoring of 54 Streams and 5 Enbayments, and Recycling. the Primary Focus Area of This Project Is Education. at the End of the Three-year Grant, 90 Students Will Show Improved Academic Performance in Literacy, 1500 Taxpayers Will Save on Average $273/RETURN on Tax Preparation for a Total Savings of $409,500, Over 2,500 Pieces of Water Quality Data Will Be Collected to Classify Streams by Alabama Water Quality Regulations as to Their Designated Use and 600 Gallons of Oil Will Be Kept Out of Ground Water and Recycled Through the Cartridge Recycling Program. the CNCS Federal Investment of $157,500 Will Be Supplemented by $71,026 in Non-federal Resources. Primary Focus Area and Anticipated Outcome: Education Marshall County RSVP Will Place 68 Volunteers as Reading Buddies in All 12 Elementary Schools in Our County Working One-on-one With Kindergartner Through Fourth Grade Students to Help Improve Their Academic Performance. in 2015, 65% of Fourth Graders Were Classified as Reading Below the Proficient Level. 54.4% of Children Enrolled in Marshall County Schools Are Eligible for Either Free or Reduced Lunches. Evaluation of the Anticipated 100 Students Who Complete the Program Based on Pre- and Post- Evaluations for Each Child, Rsvp's Anticipated Outcome Will Be 90 Students Will Show Improvement in Their Reading Skills. to Eliminate the Summer Reading Loss, RSVP Will Partner With the 5 Public Libraries in the County to Continue One-on-one Reading in a Unique Way Using Our Certified Therapy Dog Teams. Once a Week Children Will Read Library Books to the Dogs as Part of "dog Tales". Economic Opportunity - Tax Counseling -- 50 Internal Revenue Service Trained Volunteers Will Prepare 1,500 Federal and State Tax Returns for Free for Rural, Elderly, Low Income and Limited English Taxpayers This Year Saving Them Over $409,500 in Tax Preparation Costs, Freeing That Money to Be Used for Other Family Needs Such as Food, Housing, Utilities, Medicine, Etc. Capactiy Building -- Improving Waterways - 43 Environmental Protection Agency Trained Water Quality Monitors Will Collect Over 2,500 Water Quality Data Samples on 54 Stream Sites and 5 Enbayments During the Year. Thus, 250 Miles of Waterways Will Be Improved. - Cartridge Recycling -- 4 RSVP Volunteers Will Work With 25 Community Partners to Collect Recycle Empty Printer Cartridges, Keeping a Ton of Materials Out of Landfills and Recovering 600 Gallons of Oil by Reusing the Empty Cartridges.