Bryn Mawr College
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Bryn Mawr Collaborates with ACALMO in a variety of programs: After School Program at ACLAMO Family Center: This is a bi-lingual social service agency in Norristown. Bryn Mawr students work with children in grades K – 8 providing support and coaching in reading and language comprehension and general homework help. Bryn Mawr volunteers commit to working once a week at ACLAMO. Adelante (“forward” in Spanish): Launched in January of 2014, Adelante is a STEM-focused college-bound program that works with middle school students and their parents from the Norristown Area School District. Through this program, students engage in college-prep workshops and STEM-related activities to develop the necessary skills to not only become competitive college applicants but also college graduates. PRAXIS Pogram: Since 2004, Bryn Mawr Praxis students have participated in the after-school program, the bi-lingual preschool and adult ESL classes that are part of the family literacy program. Students in the Effective Grantsmanship Program have assisted with various grant writing projects at ACLAMO. Through work-study and summer internships, Bryn Mawr students have extended their involvement with the community-based programming at ACLAMO. https://www.brynmawr.edu/childfamilystudies/praxis

The America Counts and America Reads Tutoring Program is a federally funded work-study program developed as a partnership between LILAC | Civic Engagement and the local community through the Spring Avenue Generational Educational Services (SAGES), Zion Baptist Church in Ardmore and Parkway West High School. LILAC | Civic Engagement sponsors two tutoring programs: ACT—Ardmore Community Tutoring and PWHS - Parkway West High School. https://www.brynmawr.edu/lilac/america-readsamerica-counts

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program recruits volunteers to work with CADCOM, an agency in Norristown, PA with a mission "to mobilize the human and financial resources of Montgomery County by initiating, developing and administering community and economic development programs designed to provide the tools needed to achieve self-sufficiency." In 2014 – 2015 alone, 25 students volunteered with VITA performing 2583 hours of service as tax preparers. Volunteers prepared 1,150 tax returns for Montgomery County residents, yielding total refunds in excess of $1,780,000. When adjusted for the savings on tax preparation services--since VITA tax preparation is a free service--and the federal community economic multiplier (1.59), our VITA site had a positive economic impact of $2,870,000 on the lower income residents of the greater Norristown region.