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One on One,
Individualized Tutoring
Project Literacy is a non profit tutoring organization, created by UCLA students in 1990. In the 26 years since its founding, the program has expanded in scope to operate seven unique sites six days a week, serving nearly 250 children and adults across Los Angeles annually. We remain dedicated to our original mission of educational enrichment and mentorship for communities with historically high rates of illiteracy, low socioeconomic status, and ongoing threats of gang-related violence. Through one-on-one tutoring, themed weekly curriculum, personalized group activities, and quarterly field trips, our students engage in meaningful, culturally-relevant learning opportunities; share their ideas in a safe, supportive environment; and realize their full potential for academic achievement.
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Our unique Adult Program has partnered with LAUSD's Los Angeles Technology Center to provide literacy tutoring to adults in lower-income communities. These individuals have faced significant educational and language barriers throughout their lifetime. Through our three Reading and ESL sites, we provide quality service for adults who are determined to advance their reading and writing skills while still balancing their other time commitments, like their families and jobs. With our resources, learners can empower themselves in both their daily and professional lives. Many of our learners build the skill sets necessary to earn their G.E.D.s, while others work towards personal goals like writing better emails for work, passing the written driver’s license exam, or reading storybooks to their grandchildren.
Monday Watts, 3-7pm
Project Literacy's Monday site is at the Alma Reaves Woods library in Watts, Los Angeles. The majority of the students at Monday are in elementary school, but there are also several middle school and a couple of high school learners. Many of our families have been coming to Monday, as well as our other Watts sites on Tuesday and Saturday, for years. They are very connected to the program and the kids look forward to coming every week. During site, tutors take advantage of the library setting to read books of all different genres with their learners. It is a quieter site since the learners work in the library, but everyone's lively during activity at the end of the day!
Tuesday Watts, 3-7pm
Tuesday Watts is a fun and entertaining site, with never a dull moment! Most of our learners are elementary and middle school-aged, but we also have a few older, high school students. We meet each week at the Alma Reaves Woods Public Library in Watts from 4-6:00pm. Like Monday Watts, the majority of our learners have been coming to Project Literacy for several years, and many of them attend the 99th Street Elementary School just a few blocks away. Typically we work on homework, Project Literacy curriculum, and reading for the first 1.5 hours and collectively engage in a group activity or craft during the last half hour. Our learners are usually very focused and get a lot of work done!
Tuesday LATC (Adult Reading), 5-8pm
Our adult sites at the Los Angeles Technology Center provide exciting opportunities for growth for those who prefer a more formal classroom setting. Our tutors help run an already established Level 2/3 Reading Class with a teacher at the LA Tech Center – their role is more similar to teacher's assistants rather than private tutors. Instead of developing their own curriculum, tutors follow the teacher’s guidelines and assist her with different group activities and pre-set lesson plans, usually working with the same small group of learners throughout the quarter to build a strong relationship.
Wednesday Mar Vista, 3-7pm
Wednesday site is at the Boys & Girls Club in Mar Vista. This is Project Literacy's newest location, and we have worked hard to maintain a strong, positive relationship with the Boys & Girls Club. They love having us there! We are given our own private community room which allows us to easily work one-on-one with our learners as well as get to know other learners and tutors. At the beginning of each quarter, we are given copies of the learners’ report cards so we can see what areas they need help in. Most need help in all areas, but reading especially as English is a second language for most of the kids. The Boys and Girls club provides our learners access to a computer lab, gym, and playground to engage them in other activities in addition to ensuring they are academically on track. It is a high-energy site with learners from grades 2-5. The majority of learners live very locally, in the Mar Vista Housing Projects surrounding the Boys and Girls Club. Nearly all of the learners attend the two local elementary schools (Stoner and Braddock) in the area and know each other. Almost all of the learners are very talkative and sociable! Site is always a dynamic and collaborative environment. They love having us come every week, and most learners maintain a consistent relationship with their tutors.
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Thursday Vernon, 3-7pm
Project Literacy’s Thursday Vernon site is held in a small library that is affiliated with a local church. Most of our learners are of younger age—preschool to middle school—but we do have a few high school students. Vernon is very family-oriented, as many of our kids are related or their families know each other. Many of the moms stay during site and hang out with each other, as they wait for their children. Due to the great family atmosphere, tutors get to know parents well and the parents bring food for us at least once per quarter! The community is very strong at this site, and our learners and their families are really invested in education and the Project Literacy program.
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Thursday LATC (Adult Reading), 5-8pm
Our adult sites at the Los Angeles Technology Center provide exciting opportunities for growth for those who prefer a more formal classroom setting. Our tutors help run an already established Level 2/3 Reading Class with a teacher at the LA Tech Center – their role is more similar to teacher's assistants rather than private tutors. Instead of developing their own curriculum, tutors follow the teacher’s guidelines and assist her with different group activities and pre-set lesson plans, usually working with the same small group of learners throughout the quarter to build a strong relationship.
Thursday LATC (Adult ESL) , 5-8pm
Our adult sites at the Los Angeles Technology Center provide exciting opportunities for growth for those who prefer a more formal classroom setting. Our tutors help run an already established ESL class with a teacher at the Tech Center – their role is more similar to teacher's assistants rather than private tutors. Instead of developing their own curriculum, tutors follow the teacher’s guidelines and assist her with different group activities and pre-set lesson plans, usually working with the same small group of learners throughout the quarter to build a strong relationship. The ESL classroom is actually taught in English, so Spanish proficiency is not at all required! The literacy level of the learners is similar to the Reading Classes, but the class size is bigger, and focuses more on vocabulary and grammar than reading and writing.
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Friday Baldwin Hills, 2-6pm
Site at Friday Baldwin Hills can best be described as incredibly fun, rewarding, close-knit, and a little chaotic. Our site has learners that range from Kindergarten to 9th grade, with the majority of our learners being elementary students. Since so many of our learners are on the younger side, we like to spend a lot of time doing group activities and making learning as fun as possible. Our learners absolutely love that they get their own tutor so we keep our site focused on one-on-one tutoring, which also helps us see maximal literacy improvement amongst all of our learners. Many of our learners are families, go to the same school, or have been involved in Project Literacy for several years, which makes our site feel like a family. We tutor from 3-5pm in a community room at the Baldwin Hills Library, so we have our own space to conduct tutoring while still having access to resources in the library. The learners and tutors are allowed to use any book in the library during site and we are constantly helping our learners obtain library cards to take home books they've enjoyed with their tutors at site. The parents and librarians at our site are very supportive, and are always willing to share how we can better help the community.
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Saturday Watts, 9am-1pm
Though it's early in the morning, our learners at Saturday always come bright and full of energy that is contagious to all of our tutors! We meet at Alma Reaves Woods Library in Watts, and we work with kids of all ages, ranging 5-17. Many have been coming to Saturday site with their families for years; we have seen them graduate from elementary to middle to high school, and helped them as they study for the SAT and apply to college. Learners and tutors spend the first hour and a half primarily working on the week’s curriculum or reading books from the library, as well as helping with any homework learners may have for the weekend. The last half hour is spent doing an activity in the community room. Because our site is held in a public library, tutors and learners have many wonderful resources available to them, and our learners grow particularly passionate about reading with their tutors. Our parents let us know if there is anything specifically we can help with, and many of them join us on our field trips. Saturday Watts adds so much fun and excitement to our weekends, spending time with the kids and joining in on their craziness is always the highlight of our week!
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