Our after-school program, The Co-Op is held at Mann UCLA Community School in South Los Angeles, Tuesdays-Thursdays from 3pm-6pm. We work with middle school foster and homeless youth and provide a safe space, a community, music enrichment, and reading remediation.We are looking for volunteers to come and read with our students every Wednesday 3:00-6:00 for our Reading partners Program throughout the school year.We have opportunities for volunteers to support our after-school program, Tuesdays and Thursdays as well. Volunteers help run the daily workings of the program, organizing and overseeing the daily routines, spending time catching up with the students each afternoon, monitoring the youth during the music curriculum, and providing homework help.
One-time, Occasional, Weekly, Monthly
Adults
Individuals
Indoor
On-site
Weekdays
One-on-One Mentoring Program
We offer a one-on-one mentoring program that is scheduled at the convenience of the mentor and mentee. We require at least two meetings a month, at least one in person.
Monthly
Adults
Individuals
Indoor
On-site
Weekdays, Evenings, Weekends
Reading Program Volunteer
75% of foster youth are reading two to five levels below their actual grade. The Co-Op's Reading Partners Program was created to fill the widening gap between a youth’s reading ability and his/her actual grade level and meets once a week on Wednesdays from 3:00pm-5:30pm. Depending on the level of the youth the pair might take turns reading aloud, the youth might read aloud, or the partner might read and have the youth follow along. These weekly visits provide time for reading improvement and also provide time for a relationship to grow between the youth and the mentor. Organized group outing take place outside of these hours every couple months.
Weekly
55+, Adults
Individuals
Indoor
Formal
Weekdays
How you help
Volunteers are the reason The Academy Project exists. We have a staff of one and all of our other support comes from our incredible volunteers. The extraordinary size and scope of the services TAP provides are only made possile through our volunteers.
About us
The Academy Project is a 501(c)(3) organization, that provides educational support and well-being programs for foster youth in South Los Angeles. There’s a desperate need for a different approach in supporting the foster care system in Los Angeles, as highlighted by the Blue Ribbon Commission in 2013 that “unanimously concluded that a State of Emergency exists”. The commission stated “If we knew that 50% of all children in foster care end up homeless, institutionalized or incarcerated upon aging out of the system and only 4% received any higher education, we would not tolerate such a negligent system.”While changes have started to occur at the County level, more needs to be done. While programs of change work to materialize benefit, thousands of foster youth are aging out of the system unable to read and write; unable to hold jobs or progress onto further education; unable to forge a path forward that does not involve homelessness, prostitution, gangs, or support from social welfare.The Academy Project believes it doesn’t have to be this way; that through community, empowerment and education, these children can be set onto a path for success. The Academy Project’s programs work to realize this.
