The council of the southern mountains, an I.R.S. 501 c (3) non-profit west virginia corporation, is a community action agency established in 1964

The agency is governed by a volunteer tripartite board of directors, with members from three areas: 1) low-income and minority, 2) elected officials and 3) community representatives. This board serves as the advisory council for this FGP proposal, which CSM has successfully operated for over two decades in mcdowell, mercer, mingo, monroe, raleigh, summers and wyoming counties in southern west virginia, an economically distressed areas. The mission statement of the agency is: "the council of the southern mountains strives to provide quality services and opportunities to help people achieve the dignity of self-sufficiency." a projected 62 americorps senior foster grandparent volunteers will serve this seven county service area. Of this number, 62 americorps senior foster grandparents will be placed in outcome assignments. Some of their activities will include virtual/remote learning, academic, reading, school attendance social and emotional development skills, assisting in public schools and head-start classrooms. Support students with special projects and student packets. The primary focus area of this project is education k-12 success and school readiness. At the end of the three-year grant cycle, 145 children will receive (tutoring, mentoring, one-on-one assistance, etc., services from FGP volunteers). Fifty percent of children served will show improvement in academic performance, school attendance, virtual attendance plus additional individual child needs. The americorps senior federal investment for this project is $351,658.00 per annum supplemented by $39,092 in local non-federal in-kind matching.