Cynthia Brewer lives and breathes our core value of breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty through our mission “Teach the Parent, Reach the Child.” Since joining AmeriCorps, Cynthia has made great contributions to our program, to the people we serve and more importantly to our community.

Pima Adult and Family Literacy AmeriCorps Program is designed to help the most disadvantaged families living with low income and low literacy skills. Adult Education provides adult learners with opportunities to increase basic skills in math, reading and writing, prepare for and take the GED Test, learn English, increase their civic engagement and develop the skills to transition to further education and jobs. Additionally, many of our students enroll in the Refugee Education Program (REP) an English-language learning program. Instruction is designed for students from the lowest literacy levels through college entrance levels. Courses focus on practical English skills that help students function independently on the job and in daily living. We offer adults with developmental disabilities that opportunity to enroll in Project RAISE (Rehabilitative Adult Independent Skills Education). This provides adults with basic education and life skills classes.

In her AmeriCorps service at the Eastside Adult Education Learning center Cynthia provides service to adult students enrolled in Adult Basic Education classes, REP, and Project RAISE. Her students look up to her for help and guidance and she gives them hope that there is a brighter day beyond the horizon.

In Cynthia’s own words, “I started working with Malik eight months ago in a Pre-Literacy Refugee Class. Malik had an intermediate oral language proficiency level and no reading/writing skills in English. Malik’s first comment when he came into my class was, “I am never going to learn to read this English language because it is too hard for me, and I really miss reading the newspaper in the morning in my country.” Malik’s primary language is Arabic, and he is from Sudan.

In eight very short months, Malik has begun to read anything and everything he encountered and requests for more reading materials that he can interact with, in English! He comes to class everyday with such enthusiasm and motivation that every class period is a celebration! He celebrates the learning of every single word and embraces its value to his new-found language skills.”

Malik became a Student Ambassador for the Civics Program at Pima Community College. His academic achievement was recognized and honored with the Arizona Association for Life Long Learning (AALL) Student of the Year Award AND in February 2012, he was inducted into the National Adult Education Honor Society (NAEHS). Truly his accomplishments were made possible by Cynthia. In fact, of the 101 students Cynthia has tutored since joining AmeriCorps, 88% of them have made academic gains.

Cynthia’s passion, dedication, and contribution to our community should be recognized. Cynthia is a humble person who will continue to give and never expect anything in return.