Abstract

Seniors serving as volunteer tutors in elementary schools not only help children read but can help create awareness of other cultures. This effective practice highlights how the Minneapolis Seniors for Schools project recruits and retains a diverse team of seniors to serve as volunteer tutors in the city's ethnically-diverse communities and describes the positive impact they have on children's reading skills and understanding of other cultures. From the article "Diversity Opens Doors to Learning: Minneapolis Seniors for Schools," in the Spring 1999 newsletter,The Tutor.

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Issue

By actively recruiting and supporting a diverse team of senior volunteer tutors, programs can increase their effectiveness beyond reading skills to awareness of other traditions.

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Action

Strategies the Minneapolis Seniors for Schools project used to build its senior volunteer tutoring program included:

• Recruit volunteers from the communities that make up the schools in order to match the diversity of the school populations;
• Target schools receptive to volunteer support;
• Use volunteers as ambassadors to recruit friends into the program;
• Organize focus groups to keep seniors connected to the program during the summer months and providing a forum to discuss successes and difficulties.

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Context

Volunteers for the Minneapolis Seniors for Schools project serve elementary school children in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 48 senior volunteers serve more than 300 children in five schools.

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Citation

LEARNS. "Diversity Opens Doors to Learning: Minneapolis Seniors for Schools." The Tutor: Portland, Oregon: The Corporation for National and Community Service, Spring 1999.

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Outcome

Program staff and tutors have reported an increase in reading confidence among the students working with seniors. The project grew from supporting one to supporting five schools in four years and increased from 30 to 48 volunteers in a year.

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Posted On

November 22, 2000

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For More Information

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Source Documents

Related Practices

• Recruiting senior volunteers

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Related sites

Topic Areas

• Intergenerational
• Tutoring
• Diversity
• Recruitment
• Senior Corps
• Staff
• Seniors
• Program management
• LEARNS

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