Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe (LVSF) is so grateful to you and all our volunteer tutors for your support of our programs. This past year, your participation contributed to 203 volunteer tutors helping 374 students achieve their goals. We hope that you will consider making a financial contribution to LVSF, too, so that we can count you as both a volunteer and donor — a participation rate that helps us in applying for grants. Many foundations and other grantor organizations consider the percentage of volunteers who also donate, even small amounts, a critical metric to measure the health and effectiveness of a program.
Last year, we asked our donors for help in expanding the Citizenship program, and I would like to share some of the accomplishments of this past year:
LVSF trained 22 new citizenship tutors in three sessions;
By the end of the fiscal year (June 30), we had 75 students in the Citizenship program – increasing the number of students by 50% — of whom 25 passed the exam to become U.S. citizens;
LVSF co-hosted two naturalization ceremonies in February and June on the Santa Fe Community College campus, where many of our students, including Nivia Rojo de Ochoa, became citizens. The Santa Fe County Clerk’s office and the local Social Security Office also participated to offer services for the new citizens;
LVSF coordinated with all local providers of citizenship services, such as Catholic Charities, New Mexico Immigration Law Center, Santa Fe Dreamers Project, and Somos Un Pueblo Unido;
From L to R: Zulema Chavero of Somos, City Councilors Renee Villareal and Chris Rivera, Amanda Rivera de Garcia of LVSF, Santa Fe Mayor Allan Webber, and Marcella Diaz of Somos
LVSF coordinated with all local providers of citizenship services, such as Catholic Charities, New Mexico Immigration Law Center, Santa Fe Dreamers Project, and Somos Un Pueblo Unido;
Through our partnership with Somos Un Pueblo Unido, we started tutoring for the citizenship exam in Spanish for those eligible to take the exam in their native language. Three of our citizenship tutors, who are fluent in Spanish, volunteered to start this initiative;
In August, LVSF hosted a day-long seminar, The Citizenship Teacher Workshop, taught by USCIS, which was attended by 18 citizenship tutors from throughout the state;
In September, LVSF was honored by Mayor Webber and Somos Un Pueblo Unido for our partnership with Somos in their Citizenship Now! Program. LVSF provided five tutors and all necessary textbooks to assist students to prepare for and pass the citizenship exam.