‘The needs are really, really enormous’: High demand for volunteer tutors for DC-area students
With classes back in session, a major drive is underway to recruit a legion of volunteer tutors needed for students throughout the D.C. area.
At the Adams Morgan Day festival on Sunday, the D.C. Tutoring and Mentoring Initiative spread word about the need for 60,000 volunteer tutors and mentors needed across the region. Only 4,000 were enlisted last year, according to Tom Pollak, the organization’s executive director.
“We’ve got two out of three kids reading below grade level, even more needing help with math,” Pollak told WTOP. “We support more than 50 different non-profit organizations and schools and we need folks who can help out just one to two hours a week.”
On Saturday, at a D.C. After-School Fair at the Deanwood Community Center in Northeast D.C., parents and students browsed dozens of tables of information on after-school programs. Many of the more than 60 offerings on display were devoted to tutoring.
“Our primary focus is STEM and STEAM: science, technology, engineering, math and changing the minds of the youth in Washington D.C. to move in a more positive direction,” said Amos Drummond, operational manager of Positive Focus Foundation, a nonprofit group that tutors D.C. students.
At the end of each school day, tutors from Drummond’s group fan out to D.C. schools where they sit with kids as they do their homework.
“Our main goal is when parents pick the young people up at the end of the day, the homework is already completed, and that builds confidence, and self esteem and cognitive skills in the youth…the kids do their homework and that takes pressure off the parents,” said Drummond.
The D.C. Teaching and Mentoring Initiative matches volunteers with 50 partner tutoring and mentoring programs in the District and the suburbs.
Some volunteers come in during the school day, while others work with students right after classes end or later in the evening.
“We have flexible programs and virtual programs where you could connect up with your mentee on the weekend at a local coffee shop or at a location that worked for you,” Pollak said. “A lot of our partners can also get free tickets to local sporting events, things like that. So you can take your mentee, could go to the local sporting event, or go for a hike, get a lot of different options. The needs are really, really enormous.”
Because the school year is young, Pollak said the ensuing days and weeks are good times to become involved.
“I can’t tell you how fulfilling it is, how satisfying it is … working with an elementary school kid in third grade, maybe who’s struggled to learn how to read … or your mentoring a high school student or middle school student.” said Pollak.
“You don’t have to have a college degree either,” Pollak added. “Just caring adults that’s what we say is the main criteria.”