As home to the Dan River Year AmeriCorps program, The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) serves as a regional catalyst for economic transformation. AmeriCorps members at IALR currently serve as STEM and literacy tutors and developers. They primarily serve upper elementary through middle school students in schools and at out-of-school partner sites. By tutoring and mentoring young students, AmeriCorps members at IALR help make sure all students are equipped to reach their goals.

The Dan River Region, has lower high-school graduation rates as compared the state (Danville 73.3%, Pittsylvania County 90.4%, Virginia 91.9%).  Members tutoring and mentoring students in 1:1 and small group sessions help improve absenteeism as well as increases testing scores. Having tutors also serve as mentors develops students’ social-emotional skills for positive development as well.

Members utilize the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) to document and evaluate the impact of their mentoring efforts on students’ social-emotional learning (SEL) development. During the past service year, data collected through DESSA demonstrated significant progress in students’ SEL development. Members successfully contributed to measurable improvements in the SEL scores of 118 students, reflecting the effectiveness of their mentoring efforts in fostering critical life skills. These results highlight the meaningful role of mentoring in supporting students’ emotional resilience, decision-making abilities, and interpersonal relationships, ultimately contributing to their overall well-being and academic success.

Audia Harris, AmeriCorps Program Coordinator at IALR, recalls, “When we first began the program, we had a broader age range (middle schoolers through adult) and a STEM tutoring focus. Realizing many students struggled in literacy changed our focus to incorporate literacy as a major component of our STEM tutoring. We have shifted our focus to mostly upper elementary as well in order to reduce the literacy gap at a younger age to enable more students to be on-grade level earlier in their academic career.”

As IALR celebrates its tenth anniversary, AmeriCorps members are designing and implementing 10 service projects in celebration of that milestone, connecting with local organizations to support the efforts of outreach in the community. The Dan River Year program has recruited over 50 volunteers during the 2024-2025 service year and 10 of their current members are partnering with the VCU Center on Society and Health for a Photovoice project. The project “is a creative arts-based participatory process that puts cameras in the hands of individuals to enable them to share their experiences, perspectives, and stories of volunteerism and service through the use of photography, discussion, and collective action.”

Learn more about the Dan River Year AmeriCorps program at IALR at https://www.ialr.org/americorps.