Goals of the School Volunteer Association of Bridgeport, Inc. are to increase community participation in reading enrichment, tutorial services, mentoring and other school volunteer programs and to foster constructive interest and support for the city schools throughout the greater Bridgeport community.

Description:
The School Volunteer Association of Bridgeport, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides volunteer services to Bridgeport's Public Schools. SVA recruits, trains, and places volunteers and also raises funds to support volunteer and enrichment programs for city students.

Over 1000 volunteers from Bridgeport and surrounding communities serve each year in SVA reading books to classes and tutoring and mentoring individual students. Commitments vary from thirty minutes each month to one hour weekly, depending on the volunteer opportunity.

SVA is dependent on the greater Bridgeport community for financial support of its programs of service to Bridgeport students.

History:
The School Volunteer Association of Bridgeport was incorporated May 17, 1967. It began as a pilot project of the Junior League and was then led by the Bridgeport Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). The incorporation papers were signed by our first President Virginia Rider (Founder), Vice President Helen B. Wasserman and Superintendent of Schools Lester Silverstone and were then filed with then Secretary of State Ella Grasso. One of the first school volunteer programs in the country, the newly incorporated School Volunteer Association was featured in a 9-page pictorial in LIFE Magazine in 1968. By then, the organization had demonstrated the value of trained volunteers in schools.

The purpose was "to operate a community wide program to provide a permanent vehicle to utilize the available community resources for the improvement of the public schools of Bridgeport in cooperation with the Bridgeport Board of Education." After 40 years the purpose remains the same.

Today over 1,000 volunteers from Bridgeport and surrounding communities serve in SVA programs. Volunteers tutor youngsters in reading and language arts, math, and ESOL, read to classes, mentor students, serve as classroom, office, and library aides and work in a variety of other ways to help Bridgeport students learn and grow. A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, SVA is administered by a volunteer Board of Directors who work closely with the Bridgeport Board of Education through the Coordinator of Volunteer Services.

Contact people:

Anne Gribbon, Coordinator of Volunteer Services, (phone), (email) Joyce Goodwin, Reading Enrichment Coordinator, (phone), (email) Michelle Foldy, Tutor Coordinator, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (203)372-7214

Address:

280 Tesiny Avenue Bridgeport, CT 06606 (See a map)

Web Site: None specified

Directions:

Directions from Merritt Parkway: Exit 48(Main Street). Proceed south, past Trumbull Shopping Park, less than 1 mile. Turn left onto Norland Ave.(1 block past Amoco gas station). Park in fenced-in lot behind the school on right. Go up steps on. . . (more)

Miscellaneous Information

Is this opportunity appropriate for youth ages 12-17?
	No
Does this program receive United Way funding?
	Yes