Help Our Kids Get to College!

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HeartlandAlliancefor Human Needs & Human Rights is a service-based, human rights organization that provides housing, health care, human services, and human rights protections to the most poor and vulnerable people in our society, and uses its 118 years of experience to advocate for social justice.

Heartland’s Refugee Youth & Family Services provides support to refugee families and their children through cultural orientation, academic support, social activities and prevention education. It also provides services designed to integrate refugee youth into the mainstream community. Refugee and Immigrant Community Services (RICS) annually resettles more than 150 individuals in Chicago from places like Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Nepal, Pakistan, Togo and Vietnam. RICS serves an additional 500 refugees through a variety of services including cultural orientation, adjustment counseling, employment, job readiness and placement services, as well as medical case management, family literacy, and English language training for adults.

We are looking for unpaid volunteers to work in our College Preparatory Program as homework helpers and ACT/College Entrance exam tutors.

Responsibilities

Provide individual and group tutoring assistance to refugee youth and implement age-appropriate educational activities at a fixed public meeting place every week.

• Check in weekly with students to make sure they are on the right track toward being admitted to college.

• Volunteers are expected to commit one night a week toward meeting with students either at the Heartland office or a neighborhood community center or library.

Qualifications

• Past teaching experience is desirable but not required.

• A basic understanding of the college application process in theUnited States.

• The ability to assist students with high school level homework is desirable. You don’t need to be an expert, but should be able to work through problems to find a solution with the student.

• Excellent communication and organizational skills.

• Interest in working with refugees in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and multi-ethnic environment.

• Experience working with youth.

• Patience and flexibility.

• Computer proficiency.

• Language proficiency in Arabic, Armenian, Assyrian, Burmese, Chin, Creole, Farsi, French, Karen, Kirundi, Kinyarwanda, Nepali, Oromo, Spanish, Urdu, or Vietnamese is helpful, but not required. Experience with teaching ESL is also helpful.

• Willingness to complete and pass a background check.

Volunteer hours may be shortened or lengthened depending on schedule.