Cedar Street Tutoring started because I couldn't find homework help for my daughter in our neighborhood and I have a master's degree. If it was hard for me, it was impossible for the parents working second shift at the warehouse or the ones who don't read English.
We run afterschool tutoring three days a week at the Cedar Street Community Center. Twelve volunteer tutors. Forty-two kids, ages 8 to 14, mostly from the Eastlake apartments. Last year, 31 of our students improved at least one letter grade in math. Nine improved two.
We don't use a proprietary curriculum. We use whatever the kid's school is using, and we help them do the actual homework they were assigned that day. This sounds simple but it's the thing that makes us different. We're not supplementing school — we're making school work.
What we need: $35,000 covers one year of operations. That's space rental, supplies, snacks, insurance, and a part-time coordinator so I can stop doing everything myself. The tutors are volunteers and they keep showing up. The space is donated three days a week by the church. The kids walk there from the apartments.
Everything about this is simple. The need is real, the model works, and the money goes exactly where you'd expect it to.
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