Volunteer to Tutor and Help Children Reach Their Potential

By Sheila Greenstein, AARP Experience Corps Manager

Children all over Connecticut are counting down the days until summer vacation when they can be free of classrooms and homework. Unfortunately, for many students those months off from school can also lead to a lack of opportunities to read and an ultimate loss in literacy skills.

You can help direct struggling school children down the right path to turn their dreams into reality. Our organization, AARP Experience Corps-Greater New Haven, is seeking volunteers 50 and over to tutor literacy to students in Hamden, New Haven and East Haven schools or at a New Haven after-school program this fall.

Learning to read in the first few years of elementary school plays a vital component to the future success for many students. Fourth-graders who can’t read at grade-level are four times less likely to graduate from high school. We focus on ensuring children can read by the end of third grade.

The rewarding experience improves the literacy rates of children, strengthens schools in the communities and enriches the lives of our volunteers. We ask volunteers to tutor students three times a week, in the mornings or afternoons. We provide extensive training, so no teaching or prior tutoring experience is necessary however a high school diploma or GED is required. We also do a background check or literacy screening. A small stipend is available.

For more information about volunteer opportunities, contact Sheila Greenstein at 203-752-3059 or sgreenstein@aoascc.org.