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Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation announced its partnership in United Way’s reading tutor program with a donation of $75,000.
The United Way of Alaska, Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation and the Juneau School District have partnered on the Volunteer Reading Tutor program to help Juneau youth read at grade level by third grade.
“The contribution we made today is really the easy part of the effort,” Wayne Zigarlick, General Manager of Kensington Gold Mine. Volunteer tutors, he said, “those are the ones who will be making a difference.”
Coeur, owner of Kensington Gold Mine, announced its contribution to the effort at the Chamber of Commerce lunch lecture series at the Moose Lodge, Thursday.
Glenn Gelbrich superintendent of the Juneau School District said he believes Juneau is the perfect place to create a successful early childhood literacy program. He said he often hears conversations about the success of all of Juneau’s citizens.
“We appreciate it every time someone makes a contribution … by donating time, donating energy and doing as Coeur is doing today, donating serious resources,” Gelbrich said, “$75,000 is no small investment. Our job is now to make sure that that investment pays the highest possible dividend for children.”
Coeur’s contribution funds the Volunteer Reading Tutor program for three years and brings volunteer tutors into Juneau classrooms to help students reach their reading potential during the important years leading up to their third-grade year.
Children who have trouble reading at grade level often struggle in school and drop out as a result, Mary Becker, chair of United Way, said. While successful readers are likely to graduate on time and are better prepared to enter the work force, she said.
“United Way [of Southeast] places an emphasis on reading success,” Becker said. “[It] expects to see graduation rates increase, dropout rates decrease and substance abuse rates decrease.”
Without substantial help, poor readers in the third grade are poor readers in the ninth grade, Patty Newman director of teaching and learning for the Juneau School District said.
“Our six year olds, our first graders have a one in eight chance of catching up without extraordinary efforts,” Newman said. “Which is what we are all about today, those efforts.
The program is focused on Kindergarten, first and second grade students, Newman said. “Really intervene early.”
Volunteers are asked to spend 30 minutes, twice a week in the classroom working with young students who might need extra help with reading skills. Volunteers can count on a teacher in the room, Newman said. An instructional coach will be there to answer question, problem solve, coach and cheerlead, she said.
Tutors will received training to use Reading A to Z a literacy program designed for tutors (www.readinga-z.com).
The Volunteer tutor program, organized over the past six months, is scheduled to launch in mid-October.
President and CEO of United Way of Southeast Alaska, Wayne Stevens said the tutor program will supplement existing programs like the Association for the Education of Young Children Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The library provides books and reading tools for youth, birth to five years old.
“But not every newborn is signed up from the program and not every kindergartener is fully prepared to learn to read,” Stevens said. “We’re trying to pick up and follow through on those children who are not quite at those levels needed for entry to school.”
Stevens said these early childhood reading programs equate to better readers entering school. The first group, birth to five years, enrolled in the library program contributed to a spike of 10 percent in entry-level reading scores of those kindergarteners, he said.
For those interested in volunteering for the Volunteer Reading Tutor program visit the United Way’s Get Connected page on its website (www.unitedwayseak.org/activities/get-connected).
• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276 or at russell.stigall@juneauempire.com.
Comments (28)
Add commentNice job, Russ
Very informative article, complete and well structured. And an important topic. Thank you.
I think it is high time to
I think it is high time to end the practice of making millionaires off of extracting resources that belong to the public.
Every time the antiquated Mining Act comes up for an overhaul in congress the mining industry lobbyists beat it down.
- the old mining laws were intended as an incentive to those willing to push West and settle the frontier, but those days have long since past.
- Quote from mining CEO in article: "The debate in our mind isn't that we're stealing this from the public," he said. "It's 'Why is there (still) all this public land?'"
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/The-General-Mining-Act-of-1872-has...
The General Mining Act of 1872 has left a legacy of riches and ruin:
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/The-General-Mining-Act-of-1872-has...
Mining doesn't always mean bad
Coeur is a responsible company. They take care of their employees and bring jobs to SE Alaska.
Volunteering
I just clicked on the United Way site to volunteer for this program and it wasn't listed.
sefisher
Behind every silver lining there's a dark cloud, thanks for not disappointing
sorry to disturb your cozy
sorry to disturb your cozy little view of the world islandhopper, but this is one of the reasons why wealth disparity exists in the world today.
This is simply wrong and with our dwindling resources it has to be stopped.
There are a handful of people in the mining industry making enormous amounts of money off of our public resources these days have to end.
Those resources need to be
Those resources need to be pulled out of the ground by somebody. If you're willing to do it for free, by all means sefisher, go right on ahead. The rest of us like to be paid for our hard work.
akbrdguru? Settling for this
akbrdguru? Settling for this arrangement brings the word sheep to mind
The mining industry generates massive amounts of wealth for a few people and a little bit of wealth for some for a few years.
Then they close down leaving behind disrupted lands, rivers, habitats and toxic tailing dams.... and cleanup costs for generations of tax payers
akbrdguru
try not to be too hard on dark cloud, likely doesn’t know (or understand) how digging in the dirt enables him/her to pound away on the keyboard & post how terrible the worlds wealth disparity is
I'm curious as to where
the donation ends up. If the tutors are volunteers, will the donation be used to pay salaries for United Way employees.
Nationally United way spends
Nationally United way spends about 81% of its donations on actual programs. That's about middle of the road for good charities. Red Cross spends about 91%, one of the highest rated. Good folks to give to in general, though I'm not sure specifically about the local group.
wealth disparity is just one
wealth disparity is just one big joke to islandhopper
A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. The bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth
Greed taking advantage of laws like the Mining Act of 1872 made it this way. ha ha ha OMG I can't stop laughing this all so funny...........ha ha ha
@sefisher: these people
@sefisher: these people aren't capable of understanding problems unless it affects them personally, somehow. And they don't WANT to understand the environmental problems that afflict many mining operations, because if they did, they'd be a lot less comfortable.
Thumbs down to the United
Thumbs down to the United Way? WTF? Some real cynical boneheads here today. At least one, anyway.
I think we can assume
that sefisher is on the wrong end of the wealth disparity graph.
Volunteering
Our apologizes to those of you that have tried to volunteer on the Get Connected page. We had a system error that has been fixed. The site is up and running now. Once you have joined and signed in, click on the events tab and RSVP that you are attending. An email is then sent to the Juneau School District email informing them of your interest.
Class Warfare:
My thoughts exactly’ MikeyToo.
Well, mikey, there's just no
Well, mikey, there's just no time to actually "work" when one spends their days digging through leftist propaganda sites and then cuts and pastes quote after quote ad nauseum.
I think we all should chip in and send fisher off to New York so he can get himself right in the thick of the Occupy shenanigans. It's coming up on their one year anniversary and it's sure to be a celebration!
As p would say "Good God", can you tell us who contributes over a third of the tax revenues, fisher? Yeah, that would be the nasty 1%.
Back at Selfisher...
Sefisher, maybe you could lobby SEACC for a donation to your one of your favorite charities...what have they donated out of their million dollar plus a year budget to help the PEOPLE in SE. Alaska...I know they are all about the squirrels and such, but do they do anything to put people to work in our towns and villages?
Alaska is a resource state where we can and should continue to utilize our natural resources in an environmentally sound way and before you continue to bash the mining industry with your groundless allegations, you should go to Greens Creek or the Kensington and see what steps they are taking to do the job correctly under the direct supervision of all the State and Federal regs....it is overkill, but they follow the rules and do a fantastic job.
You sound like a fan of the redistribution of wealth without having to work crowd to me.
Taxpayers hit with 1.6
Taxpayers hit with 1.6 billion in subsidies to go to mining companies . Wealth distribution right to the TOP
Washington, DC - 01/27/2009 - Failure by Congress to reform the nation’s mining law and to rein in long-standing special interest subsidies could cost U.S. taxpayers approximately $1.6 billion over the coming decade, according to a new report released today by the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining. The report comes along with a new push in the U.S. House of Representatives to reform the 19th century law. (voted down in house)
“Reforming the U.S. Hardrock Mining Law of 1872: The Price of Inaction” reviews federal government data and finds that U.S taxpayers and the federal treasury stand to lose an estimated $1.6 billion in potential revenue over the next decade. The report links the revenue loss to outdated policies that subsidize the mining of gold, uranium and other metals on federal public lands.
In these difficult economic times, it goes without saying: We can no longer afford to ignore a billion-dollar stream of untapped revenues,” said Velma Smith, manager of the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining, a project of the Pew Environment Group, and author of the report. “It’s time for Congress to stop the mining industry’s free ride and start treating it like any other business that uses public resources.”
http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=48428
Hmmm, who was running
Hmmm, who was running Congress back in January of 2009? I'm a fan of responsible resource development, but not a big fan of subsidies. Some may need them, but most hard rock mines are doing pretty darn good. That said, a big thank you to Coeur Mines for being a good neighbor.
Darn those weatlhy people
Darn those weatlhy people anyway. I hate it when the come to town and throw their green paper all over the place. Some of it ended up in my wallet! Fortunately, I found that many of the local businesses in Juneau are willing to take that paper in exchange for their goods and/or services.
Let's see Jan...
Let's see Janwoodings...would that information be coming from the Pew Trust, subject of the film "Art of the Steal?" It's a nice bunch of folks you care to quote!
I think I'll agree with those that have thanked Coeur on this one. It's hard to dispute that helping our children to improve their reading skills is a bad thing.
Coeur d'Alene: Thank you for your $75,000 contribution.
***
Risk,
I believe there was quite a lot of revenue at stake here, how many like PP or Jan or Selfisher have the resources to put at risk that brought these jobs to the area? Cour could well have not been permitted to open after the enviros sued. Large risk deserves large rewards!
"We can no longer afford to
"$1 billion in non-coal metals are taken from federal lands each year. Under the 1872 mining law, these minerals are extracted without royalty or rental payments"
"We can no longer afford to ignore a billion-dollar stream of untapped revenues"
I have to agree, because we need federal revenue & deficit-reduction. If congress is not taxing work and income on hand and we need to raise revenue, this is one of the ways to do it. I think it is long past time to do this. We all need to pay our fair share.
Companies can write off
Companies can write off charitable donations they make
akbob - fyi, the mining industry enjoys outright tax subsidies which can exceed the value of the owner's investment in the mine. so the public actually ends up providing more investment than the owner.
There are no guarantees of government support for the poor, the young or the ill etc..., so why should there be guarantees of government support for businesses, particularly those that degrade the natural environment and threaten health.
The mining industry as compared to other businesses receives startling tax breaks:
- The percentage depletion allowance: permits mining companies to deduct a certain fixed percentage from their gross income to reflect the mine's reduced value over time. WOW
- Costs associated with the exploration and development can be deducted in the year the costs are incurred rather than over the life of the mine
- also Section 631 of the Internal Revenue Code, treats the sale of coal and iron ore as a capital gains , not ordinary income , so less tax
all these breaks and others encourages the wanton mega mining we are seeing today
would write more but have to run... I agree w/above posters things need to change.
"There are no guarantees of government support for the poor,
the young or the ill..."
I beg to differ.
Over a quarter of all filers pay no taxes but get a check refund from the government because they have kids.
Over a quarter of all children are being provided at least two square meals a day at school, by the government.
Every elderly citizen in America has the right to medical attention to stay alive, provided by the government.
In fact all a poor person has to do today for assistance is walk into a government building.
Our government is actually going broke because we care.
Would write more but got to run...
Lets do lunch.
My people will call your people.