An Oakland student originally from Guatemala
is making progress with the help of tutor,
Joan Poulter. Opportunities at Lafayette School Mentoring Project
First Unitarian Church of Oakland actively supports and promotes the work of the Lafayette School Mentoring Project. Many church members and friends have served as one-on-one tutors for children over the years. Because of the deep satisfaction involved with this work, many folks have become "repeat" tutors.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Lafayette School Mentoring Project (LSMP) is to increase academic achievement and attendance in the students that attend the Lafayette School (K-5) in West Oakland, CA. To realize this aim, LSMP provides no-cost one-on-one academic and enrichment programs to low income West Oakland elementary students at the Lafayette School.
DescriptionThe Lafayette School Mentoring Project, (LSMP) has served over 1,400 students with no-cost one-to-one tutoring at the Lafayette School in West Oakland since the fall of 1997. The project's highly trained professional staff is on-site daily to support volunteer tutors, assess their students, and provide the tutors advice with curriculum and on-site resources.
Because so many schools are closing in Oakland due to budget cuts, we are experiencing an increase in our school population this year. Although we are experiencing a higher number of returning tutors than ever before (currently 86 active tutor-student pairs), there are many new students who would like to receive tutoring. Our waiting list is currently at 35, and it climbs every day as teachers are finding more and more students who need academic assistance. We simply cannot do this job without volunteers.
A Few Hours a Week
Please consider becoming a one-on-one tutor. Your commitment would be to meet with a student for a few hours at a regularly scheduled time once a week (late afternoon or early evening) at the school. In order to become a volunteer tutor, you must:
1) Fill out an application
2) Come in for an interview to determine your preferences (the grade level of the student you'd like to work with, which subjects you would most like to focus on with a student, etc.)
3) Attend a mandatory 4-hour training session.
4) To ensure the safety of our students, submit fingerprints for a background check.
If you are interested in more information about the Lafayette School Mentoring Project, please contact Joan Poulter at 510-482-5918.