SMAS Census Ambassador Program wins Making A Difference in the Community Award!

Shelley (Sa) Cheng and
Stephanie Kriebel

The San Mateo Adult School is one of the 2020 EL Civics/IELCE: Making A Difference In the Community Award winners!  “This award recognizes EL Civics programs that teach skills required for citizenship and empower students to make a difference in the community.”

We are so proud of our Census Ambassadors! Proud - and grateful for the important work they do.

Here is the team in a group photo with Aparna Ramakrishnan - the co-developer - along with San Mateo Adult School Teacher Stephanie Kriebel - of the program. Without her, this program wouldn't have happened.  From left to right: Shereen Lata, Aparna, Shelley (Sa) Cheng, Marina Zambruskova, Adviser Stephenie, and Alena Bashko. Not pictured: Shirley Pinheiro and Edy Vasquez.

Margaret Teske, CASAS Program Specialist, says this about the SMAS Census Ambassador Program:

CASAS and CDE appreciate your hard work with your students to utilize the California English Literacy and Civics Education (EL Civics) program to make a difference with your students and your community.  San Mateo Adult serves as a model for other programs which seek to implement successful EL Civics/IELCE projects that reach beyond their own students.

  

SMAS Census Ambassador Program Founder and Adviser Stephanie Kriebel shares:

 Edy Vasquez - on the right
and Daniel

The SMAS Census Ambassador team came from multicultural backgrounds including China, Brazil, Fiji, Guatemala, and Russia. It was important for the success of the program and in making the connection within the community to have the team members be able to reach their fellow residents  by speaking with them in their native languages in order to ensure the message of the importance of participating in the census was received. The mission of the Census

Shirley Pinheiro

Ambassador program was to help San Mateo County residents, in particular the immigrant community, understand the importance of participation, understand how to participate, and feel comfortable doing so. Our team of student volunteers including Sa (Shelley) Cheng from China, Shirley Pinheiro from Brazil, Shereen Lata from Fiji, Edy Vasquez from Guatemala and Marina Zambruskova from Russia played an instrumental role in helping our county census count response to be the highest in the state.

Thank you to everyone on the team and to Teacher Stephanie for the fantastic work they have accomplished together. Their work serves everyone in the community.

Shereen Lata

Learn more about the Census Ambassador program: Census Ambassador Pilot Program. 

Read Shelley (Sa) Cheng's story, "Helping People Understand the Census" in the July edition of Easy English Times.

Listen to an interview with the SMAS Census Ambassador Team by Jennifer Gagliardi on her US Citizen podcast.

See more photos from our Census Ambassador Program here.