Change a student's life - become a tutor/mentor!

Save to Favorites

Northstar Tutoring is a free tutoring and mentoring program for low-income students living in the D.C. area. Northstar offers programming to more than 300 children in grades K-12 in DC and Maryland with the mission of helping students reach their full potential by overcoming barriers to personal and academic success. The goal of all Northstar activities is two-fold: to help students reach and exceed academic grade level requirements and to help them along the path of personal success through the active and long-term support of a successful and caring adult.

The Rita Bright Center location (2500 14th St. NW Washington, DC) operates on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30-8:00 pm (most volunteers just sign up for one session per week, but you are of course welcome to do both!). Volunteers are matched with a student who they work with for the entire school year, helping them to complete tutoring materials provided by Northstar, typically in math and reading. Students at this location range from K-6th grade and volunteers can request a specific age range to be matched with. Volunteers are also encouraged (but not required) to take their student out on a monthly mentoring activity. Mentoring activities take place outside of the tutoring hours and examples include taking a student to the playground/park, visiting a museum, or going to a sporting event.

Please note, tutors who are unable to come on a weekly basis are welcome to volunteer as a sub to fill in for absent tutors!

A few additional facts:

• We accept new students throughout the year so volunteers can sign up at any point and be matched with a new student. We usually ask that volunteers commit to the remainder of whatever school year they join in.
• No previous teaching experience is required (approximately 90% of volunteers have never taught/tutored before).
• We work with students in grades K-6th and volunteers can request a specific age range to be matched with.
• Volunteers must be at least 18 years old to participate.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Saarah Abdul-Rauf at srauf@northstartutoring.org.