Volunteer Opportunity: Part-Time Tutors

Vancouver Urban Ministries is recruiting volunteer tutors for the 2022-2023 school year.

 

Are you passionate about helping little kids reach their full potential?

 

Vancouver Urban Ministries provides tutoring to disadvantaged children with learning disabilities in the poorest neighborhoods of East Vancouver. We are looking for university or college students/graduates who share our belief that all children are unique and valuable and deserve every opportunity to thrive in their education. We are convinced that teaching a child to read confidently in their early years greatly improves their opportunities to complete their education and reach their full potential in life.

 

The demographic in which VUM operates includes some of the most disadvantaged families in Canada with children of Aboriginal identity, children of recent immigrants and children of female lone-parent families suffering significantly higher poverty rates than the national average. The link between literacy and poverty has been clearly established with those with low levels of literacy much less likely to be employed.

 

Our conviction is that establishing literacy in the early years of a child’s life will greatly improve their opportunities for education and employment and address a significant issue which traps adults in a cycle of poverty.

 

Free Training

Vancouver Urban Ministries uses the multi-sensory Orton-Gillingham approach to tutor the students in school during the after-school program.

 

We will give 32 hours free training in the Orton-Gillingham approach during September 2022 for those who commit to tutoring with us for a minimum of 1 school year. We will provide you with further details following receipt of your application.

 

Volunteer Tutoring Commitment

When? We are recruiting volunteer tutors who are willing to commit between 2-4 hours per week on two separate evenings (either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday) to tutor a child in East Vancouver. Tutoring takes place as part of the after-school program from 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm.

 

Who? The children on our tutoring program are referred to us by their local school because they are at least two years behind grade level in literacy. Our children are from low income families and without your volunteer help, would struggle to complete their education and meet their full potential in life.

 

Where? Tutoring will take place in one of our tutoring centers in East Vancouver

 

COVID-19 considerations:
During Covid-19 tutoring has been delivered online. Subject to provincial guidelines, we hope to recommence in-person tutoring during the 2021/2022 school year. Our training and tutoring will observe all appropriate COVID-19 protocols.

 

Please apply today if you are interested in this position or for more information.