AARP Experience Corps is hosted by Greater Cleveland Volunteers. The program engages adults age 50-plus to tutor students in kindergarten through third grade in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Tutors help students develop fundamental literacy skills so they can succeed in school and in life.
Volunteer tutors are trained prior to starting in the school and then throughout the school year by AARP Experience Corps staff. The students in the program benefit not only from the one-on-one academic assistance, but also from the mentoring relationship that develops between themselves and the volunteers. AARP Experience Corps volunteer members benefit from this caring relationship and from being able to share their love of reading and wider life experiences with children in need.
Program Launch: 1997
Program Data (2011-2012 school year)
Schools served: 13
Students served: 1,000
Volunteer members: 200
Hours logged: 62,505
Program Impact
In the 2011-2012 school year:
- 91 percent of teachers rated AARP Experience Corps volunteer members in the one-to-one program as being good or excellent in their overall quality of assistance
- Of the 94 percent of students whose overall reading skills were rated as being below grade level at the beginning of the year, 68 percent were rated as having improved by the end of the year
- 96 percent of volunteer members were satisfied with the guidance they received from AARP Experience Corps site coordinators and staff
Contact:
Debra Kay
Project Director
Greater Cleveland Volunteers
216-391-9500, ext. 119
dkay@greaterclevelandvolunteers.org
