The center’s energy is contagious. By 4 pm, kids come running in, many heading straight for the library, where they pull books off the shelves, and pair up with a tutor for reading time.

Then the grade levels are separated into groups, each led by a tutor, to work on their homework. A computer lab allows children to learn how to type and most recently, use an online learning system called IXL Math, a fun, at-your- own-pace program that has revolutionized math learning at MiCASA.

In 2013, an ipad lab was donated, purposed for lessons that would help students and their parents to learn skills that are crucial to succeeding in today’s high-tech world.

MiCASA was started by retired teachers from the Gridley School District, Margaret Wilburn and Kathy McKenzie. As teachers they kept seeing children of farm workers underperforming in school. The volunteer and mentor-based program has, as the statistics above show, turned this situation around in the Gridley school system. MiCASA currently has 14 mentors who have been through the program and now provide tutoring to current students.