PBHA’s Youth Prison Tutoring, part of PBHA’s Prison Education Program, is made up of a small, dedicated group of students seeking to provide one-on-one academic help to teenage boys (16-18) in Youth Centers. Volunteers travel by van once a week, either Monday or Thursday, and work with each student whatever they’d like to do. Tutors typically help students complete work for classes, strengthen basic reading, writing, and math skills, prepare for standardized tests, and/or explore extracurricular topics of interest. Whenever possible, we try to match up each tutor with a particular student in order to foster more long-term tutoring relationships. With all of the van ride bonding time included, a night of tutoring runs from about 6:15-8:30. If you’d like to learn more about why the Connelly program is the greatest ever, please contact Jake Sloane (jake7sloane@gmail.com) and Will Peck (pecko99@gmail.com).
PBHA’s Suffolk County Houses of Correction Program tutors male and female inmates at a medium security prison, supplementing their classroom work with individualized academic attention. We help inmates with reading (from sounding out words to discussing political theory), writing (from subject-verb agreement to effective prose), and math (from addition to calculus). We lead some computer use and occasionally offer special classes. The majority of the inmates need help at basic levels or at GED level. Tutors usually assist with homework from daytime classes, but may also design curricula on their own. Directors will gladly help to plan lessons and find materials for any tutor. The program runs Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 6:45 to 10:00 PM. Volunteers commit to one night per week. Tutors usually work with the same inmate each week, which makes dedication and attendance essential. The Suffolk House of Correction in South Boston houses about 1800 prisoners: 90% male; most between 21 and 30; most black or Latino; convicted of crimes carrying sentences of no more than 2 years each. We help our inmates build the skills necessary to get jobs and live as responsible citizens. For more information, please contact Peter Arnaboldi (arnabold@fas) or Daniela Nogueira (dnogueir@fas.harvard.edu)
PBHA’s Women’s Resource Center at the Boston Courthouse serves as the Suffolk Country Community Corrections Center for women transitioning from correction facilities into their communities under conditional pre-release status. Take an hour out of your week to work with the women on academics (primarily GED preparation such as arithmetic, reading, writing skills) or in searching for a job. With flexibility unlike many other programs, you will be matched carefully to a student and will be able to choose the tutoring time most amenable to your schedule. Classes run every weekday, primarily in the mornings and afternoons. Your student may still be in high school or may have graduated thirty years ago. Please contact Hana Ali (hana.ali@gmail.com).
PBHA’s PEN volunteers teach English as a Second Language and Computer Literacy Skills to adult learners on the Harvard campus. Previous teaching experience is not necessary, and most of our classes are co-taught by two instructors. There is also some one-on-one tutoring. The average weekly time commitment is about four hours including teaching, preparation, and program meetings. PEN also runs a summer program with the same goals and objectives. For more information, please contact Phelps Kelley (rpkelley@fas) and Sarah Yang (styang@fas). We look forward to meeting you.
Chinatown ESL allows its volunteers the unique opportunity to teach a class of enthusiastic, motivated adults, mostly recent Chinese immigrants. Our free classes are incredibly popular in the Chinatown community, so we are always looking for new tutors! No teaching experience or Chinese language ability are necessary, although Cantonese speakers are always especially in demand. ESL offers five levels of classes, from beginning fundamentals to advanced conversation; lessons focus on developing practical conversational, reading, and writing skills useful for everyday situations. Curriculum is provided and classes are on campus once a week for two hours. For more information, please contact Siran Cao (si.c.1216@gmail.com), Naomi Funabashi (funabashi@fas.harvard.edu), Iris Lee (iristlee@gmail.com), Jun Ying Liu (jyliu@fas.harvard.edu), Marion Liu (mliu42189@gmail.com), or Wilson Yu (wilsonyu@fas.harvard.edu).
Chinatown Citizenship prepares students for the American naturalization process by teaching basic English along with American history and government. Citizenship is held in Harvard Yard: the two-hour classes take place on weekends from 1:30 to 3:30. All volunteers teach in pairs. Volunteers are trained and provided with curriculum materials but still retain full creative flexibility in designing lesson plans to best fit the needs of their students. Chinatown Citizenship is a fun, valuable, and rewarding program for all its participants, teachers and students alike. We have levels suitable for volunteers of all Mandarin and Cantonese abilities! For more information, please email ccitizenship@gmail.com or Angela Liu (liu11@fas), Zhi Dong (zhidong2012@gmail.com), Edith Chan (echan@fas), and Chi Zhang (chiez7@gmail.com)
There are also summer opportunities through PBHA’s Chinatown Citizenship Program.
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