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Merri Dee, Serve Illinois Commissioner and retired on-air WGN anchor, congratulates Scott Brouette as he accepts The Governor's Volunteer Service Award.
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WIU's Scott Brouette Receives Governor's Volunteer Service Award

April 21, 2015

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MOLINE, IL -- Scott Brouette, assistant director of student affairs at Western Illinois University-Quad Cities, recently received The Governor's Volunteer Service Award in recognition of his efforts to enhance early childhood literacy in the region.

The Governor's Volunteer Service Award recognizes individuals to highlight the importance of volunteerism and community service in the State of Illinois. Brouette, through an AmeriCorps Program grant, and in partnership with WQPT, led an initiative to improve literacy skills in the classrooms by 15 percent.

"The Americorps program that Scott directs provides more than 16,000 volunteer hours of service to area preschools and serves nearly 300 children, representing significant and meaningful value to the centers served and the lives of these young children," said Mary Pruess, director of WQPT.

After completing a pre-test and post-test based on Illinois Early Learning Standards, the results show improvement in literacy skills of the students in the Quad Cities region by 49 percent. Projects included making 250 blank books for children to write and illustrate their own stories at the newly opened Newcome Early Learning Center in Davenport, IA, and helping at the National Bullying Prevention Month CommUNITY Party in Bettendorf, IA, promoting kindness and helping the children make Elmo puppets.

The grant for the program, which totaled $154,321, was funded by the Serve Illinois Commission, for WQPT's "Ready to Learn" program, which enhances and expands literacy for at-risk and under-served children in the Quad Cities area, according to Brouette. AmeriCorps volunteers, coordinated by Brouette, were assigned to area schools.

"National studies indicate that one out of three kindergarten children lack skills to succeed in school. By partnering with AmeriCorps and WQPT, we are helping area children increase their literacy skills, and hopefully instill a lifelong love of reading and learning," he added.

For more information about the literacy project, contact Brouette at (309) 764-2400 or S-Brouette@wiu.edu.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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