Returning AmeriCorps volunteers will work with kindergarten through fifth-grade students to strengthen literacy skills.  By: Christy Waite Posted 12:41 PM, Oct 15, 2026 and last updated 12:42 PM, Oct 15, 2026 MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — A program that has worked with thousands of Martin County children is returning after a brief hiatus, with a renewed focus on helping young students strengthen their reading skills. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County is celebrating the return of its AmeriCorps program, which places volunteers directly with students to provide individualized and small-group academic support. "We missed it. It was an extremely important piece to our success and moving the district forward," Martin County Schools Superintendent Michael Maine said. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County first introduced the federal mentorship program to the area in 2019. For six years, AmeriCorps volunteers worked with thousands of local students before federal funding shortfalls forced the program to pause. Now, program leaders have set new goals for its return. WPTV reporter Christy Waite connected with AmeriCorps Program Director for Martin County Boys and Girls Club, Russell Lamberti. "We want to serve 575 students, and we want to see an increase of 65% growth, and that can be in vocabulary, fluency and grammar," AmeriCorps Program Director Russell Lamberti said. AmeriCorps volunteers will work one-on-one and in small groups with kindergarten through fifth-grade students at four Boys & Girls Club locations, with an emphasis on literacy. For AmeriCorps Volunteer Experience Specialist Abelard Cesar, the mission also has a personal connection. "I am a Haitian American. I learned English at 13 years old, and I had mentors that helped me grow," Cesar said. The Boys & Girls Clubs says the program delivered significant academic results during its previous six-year run. In some cases, as many as eight in 10 participating students moved their reading from Level 1 to Level 4. About the same percentage maintained or improved their English Language Arts grades, according to the organization. The organization said students also showed improvements in literacy rates, assessment scores, school attendance and behavioral patterns. AmeriCorps members' work previously extended beyond the classroom. According to the Boys & Girls Clubs, volunteers completed nearly 50 service projects in Martin County and contributed more than 60,000 hours to community cleanup efforts and other acts of service. The return comes as literacy remains a focus across the county. Earlier this year, the Martin County School District reported that local kindergarten students tied for fourth place statewide in readiness scores and literacy assessments. The AmeriCorps program is part of a broader academic effort by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County, which serves more than 1,000 members ages 6 to 18 in its daily programs. The organization also provides after-school academic assistance through certified teachers. Beyond its Clubs, the organization runs or manages several programs serving local children, including Reading Buddies, Character Counts!, career training using virtual reality technology, culinary programs and skilled-trades programs. With AmeriCorps volunteers returning, the Boys & Girls Clubs says it hopes to build on the program's previous results while giving more Martin County students the individual attention and support they need. To read the full article and watch the segment, click here!

Keith Fletcher Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County, President & CEO It’s getting closer. We’ll soon swing open the blue doors of the new Hobe Sound Club and invite members to experience the exciting features of an advanced learning environment and the warmth and welcome that makes them feel at home. We recently invited community members to join us in celebrating the topping-off ceremony of the new club coming to the 5-acre parcel at the northwest corner of SE Lares Avenue and SE Edwyn Street. We’re aiming to open in late spring. The 28,142-square-foot building will offer a teen center, a gymnasium with an advanced lighting system, and programming space of nearly 5,000 square feet suited for hands-on, experiential workforce development exposure and training, as well as a commercial kitchen for our culinary team. The grounds surrounding the club will include an expansive garden area, outdoor classroom, soccer field with an 800-square-foot field house and scoreboard that doubles as a screen. The parking lot and dropoff/pickup route are configured to maximize safety and convenience for our members and their families. I’m extremely proud of our staff and design and construction team and very pleased with our experience working with Martin County. This undertaking evoked a different range of emotions than our previous construction project—the Greater Stuart Club spanning 39,000 square feet in East Stuart, which opened in 2024. In that case, we had a blank canvas of 3.6 acres thanks to an agreement with the Martin County School District. Creating the new Hobe Sound Club meant tearing down the facility that had served the Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County since the early 1990s. BGCMC started with Peggy Cole and Hays Clark in 1989. They were dedicated to establishing a safe space for young people—especially those from challenging circumstances—to gather, have fun, play sports, make friends and get help with homework. Our inaugural club took up two storefronts in the Winn-Dixie plaza on Bridge Road. Early staff members remember using grocery carts to move books and computers into the building. Its 2,800 square feet accommodated 175 members aged 6 to 18. Thanks to the generosity of the community and fundraisers such as the “Steak & Burger Dinner” at Jupiter Island Club—in which the donors dined on burgers and the kids ate steaks—enough money was raised to move out of the storefront. Spanning 9,500 square feet, the Hobe Sound club on Lares Avenue opened in 1993. The gym was added a few years later. The former site served the community, too, hosting public soccer tournaments, Hobe Sound Chamber breakfasts, gardening demonstrations, even a butterfly release. Fortunately, the future Hobe Sound Club will serve in the same capacity. We’ll make it available for the community to enjoy as much as possible. An article published in The Stuart News on July 4, 1992, quoted Peter Fleischmann, BCGMC’s then executive director, on the kids learning “social skills and educational values that hopefully will stay with them all their lives.” What I find most comforting in revisiting stories of our humble beginnings is how consistent we remain to the spirit that inspired our founding. Across five clubs for 1,000 members in our daily care and more than 10,000 impacted annually through our programming, BGCMC continues to instill values and habits that transform lives. Our core emphasis on citizenship, academics and healthy lifestyles starts early. It’s the throughline in the STEAM courses, gardening activities, art projects, recreational time, even homework help, we offer to our kindergarteners through fifth graders. Even as our middle- and high-schoolers grow and gain access to leadership principles, workforce labs and increased opportunities for responsibility, they’re taught the importance of respecting others, respecting themselves and respecting their choices. It begins in an atmosphere where they’re fully accepted, encouraged, and valued. That commitment—whether kindergartners or high school seniors, whether at the clubs of the past or the future—is always awaiting them on the other side of the blue doors.  To read more, click here!