PROGRAMS
Partners for Seniors (PFS) is a program which matches volunteers with home bound seniors who need assistance to remain in their homes. It was one of our first efforts and continues today. We have more requests for service than we have volunteers at this time.
Hermanas is a program, which we developed in partnership with Border Area Mental Health and Gila Regional Medical Center. It is a service that matches volunteer mentors with women recovering from substance abuse. We are in our second year of three with this program.
Homebound Library Program is a service that delivers books to homebound persons.
PARTNERSHIPS and COLLABORATION
U.S. Forest Service and the Gila Conservation Education Center for an EPA grant which brings conservation education to Grant County schools, serving as fiscal agent for the Alimentos Para el Niņos program which provides food for school children who do not have enough to eat and the Silver City Food Co-Op Gift Card Program which serves low-income households. TVC also administers an emergency small grant program for single, female, head of households.
Additionally, in collaboration with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and Corre Caminos Transit, we received a grant to start a new bus route to serve underserved seniors and low-income housing areas. The new route started in November of 2006 and is already averaging 20 rides per day.
We are also working with The Wellness Coalition and Western New Mexico University on a Community Wide Service Learning Initiative to coordinate local service learning programs reaching K-HE students. In partnership with the Community Enhancement Fund (CEF), TVC sponsored the “Building Bridges Out of Poverty” workshop in summer 2006 and we have recently received 2007 funding to repeat “Building Bridges Out of Poverty” as well as to bring “A Framework for Understanding Poverty” to Grant County service providers, educators and citizens.