Join United Way of Marion County and come together with friends, family and neighbors to show the power of Living United Volunteer reading, tutoring or mentoring on hour each week can change the life of a young person. Here is how you can get involved: Readers: volunteer readers read stories to individual children, or to a group of children. To be a reader, all a person needs is to be able to read, to be able to commit to visiting a classroom on a regular basis and to share the joy of reading stories out loud to children. Reading Buddies: Reading buddies develop a relationship with students in the online space. Reading buddy programs connect students to adult pen pals, who read the same books that their buddies read and then corresponds with them in the online space about the issues and major features in the books. Reading and Math Tutors: Volunteer tutors go into classrooms to build students' skills in the areas of reading and math. Unlike volunteer readers, tutors are almost always matched with students on a one-on-one basis and there is often a specific curriculum that the tutor is asked to follow. Mentors: Mentors connect with students beyond building classroom skills. Mentors can provide advice on careers, college applications, job searches and more. At its most basic level, mentoring is invaluable because it demonstrates to students that there are adults who care about them and want to see them succeed. Graduation Coaches: Graduation coaches work in schools to identify at-risk students and support them academically before they reach the point of dropping out. Coached identify, recruit and engage parents and concerned adults to help as they are needed. To sign up to volunteer, contact Chris Cotter at 732-9696 ext. 209 or at ccotter@uwmc.org Unemployed Homeowners Get More Relief Under the policy changes, mortgage companies collecting payments on Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed loans will be required to offer 12 months of forbearance for qualified unemployed borrowers, the White House said in a release. Out-of-work borrowers with these loans now can receive a minimum of four months without mortgage payments. These adjustments will provide much-needed assistance for unemployed homeowners trying to remain in their homes while looking for work, the administration said. Federal housing officials said changes to the Making Home Affordable (MHA) program will require participating loan servicers to extend the minimum forbearance period from 3 months to 12 months for eligible unemployed homeowners, whenever possible subject to investor and regulator guidance for each mortgage loan. Additionally, forbearance under the Unemployment Program will be available to borrowers who are seriously deliquent. All FHA-approved servicers must participate in the agency's Loss Mitigation Program, which includes the special forbearance program, housing officials said. HUD has posted an FHA fact sheet online. Copyright 2011 © United Press International Ocala Updates its "blueprint for growth" Housing stock, sufficient clean drinking water trees, parks and roads do not appear by chance. Those things - not to mention sidewalks and sewers, walking trails and bus systems, offices and factories, churches and schools - are made possible when there is a larger plan that allows a community to grow in an orderly, financially sound way. That is the purpose of the "comprehensive plans" that cities and countries in Florida develop and submit for state approval. Now it's time for the city of Ocala, whose original plan was adopted 20 years ago, to review and update its blueprint for growth. The city is developing its Evaluation and Assessment Report - EAR for short. Staffers, elected leaders and residents are examining the comprehensive plan's shortcomings and successes and recommending changes to meet the city's needs for the next 25 years. According to the EAR, now in draft form, the major issues the city must address are economic development, water conservation and mobility/connectivity. For complete article click here . . . | 
