“In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education. And in this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than on their potential”

• President Obama State of the Union” January 27, 2010

The Interfaith School Turnaround Pilot Project, an Americorps VISTA Education project, has garnered huge support and recognition for our initiatives to improve public education and remove barriers to the academic success of our students. In just one year of planning and implementation, we reached our goal of partnering with over ten committed faith organizations that recruit volunteers to work with at-risk students, kindergarten to 8th grade. Close to 400 volunteers provided 878 hours at scheduled whole-school volunteer events during the first year. More than 2,500 students were served through whole-school activities in the four schools and the goal of selecting 60 students for one-on-one mentoring was reached to address the ABC issues of Attendance, Behavior, Course participation and Career/post secondary education access.