Academic Mentoring for Low Income Youth

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Purpose

Study Center Assistants serve under the direction of our study center coordinators to provide drop-in educational and emotional supports to students. They will engage flexibly with students, according to student need, offering homework help, assisting in enrichment activities, or simply playing a game and lending an ear. Volunteers will help students to organize their workloads, build strong academic skills, and complete their homework assignments, while also creating a safe and welcoming environment for all students. Successful volunteers will help youth to develop strong academic and interpersonal skills, so that they will be successful in all areas of life.

Suggested Activities

• Assist students with homework without giving them the answer
• Support students in organizing and prioritizing their schoolwork.
• Keep students focused and on task
• Ask questions to help students come up with answers and procedures on their own.
• Remind students to keep a respectful level of noise
• Assist with art projects or other special projects
• Read books with youth
• Engage youth one on one or in small groups, in activities of interest to them
• Encourage students to clean up after themselves
• Sign in and out on volunteer sign-in sheet every shift

Time

• Volunteers should keep a consistent schedule so that students can rely on their presence.
• We ask for a one-month commitment so that students are not disrupted by frequent volunteer turnover.
• If you cannot make a shift let the Study Center Coordinator or Youth Programming VISTA know.
• 2 hours once a week

Qualifications

• Motivated and self-directed
• Ability to have fun while maintaining boundaries
• Cultural Competency
• Tutoring skills
• Promote good study habits

Location

We have four study centers in Portland, one in each of our family neighborhoods.

• Sagamore Village- This site is off of Brighton Ave. near Westbrook.
• Riverton Park- This site is off of Forest Ave. near Westbrook.
• Kennedy Park- This site is in East Bayside near Franklin Arterial.
• Front Street- This site is behind back bay off of Washington Avenue

Support

• Portland Housing Authority will provide orientation and occasional trainings.
• Volunteers will be supervised on site by the study center coordinators. Each site has two coordinators who should both be on site most days.
• The Youth Programming VISTA will do check-ins and is available for ongoing support
• Bus passes are available if needed for transportation to the site

ALL VOLUNTEERS MUST COMPLETE A VOLUNTEER APPLICATION AND BACKGROUND CHECK PRIOR TO SERVING

Please contact Azia Gilbert with any questions.