Welcome to
Volunteer
Services
Whiz Kids
A Joint Venture
Whiz Kids Tutoring is a one-on-one volunteer tutoring/mentoring program focusing on elementary school age kids who live in areas which have some of the highest drop-out rates in Denver and surrounding areas. The program is hosted predominantly in urban churches, both Protestant and Catholic. Whiz Kids Tutoring works under the umbrella of the Denver Public Schools Community Study Hall Program.
Equipping for the Future
Volunteer tutors come from every age group and walk of life. Tutors range from college students, engineers, housewives, attorneys, nurses, teachers, etc. "I like coming to tutoring because I like my tutorI have friends there, and I really like club time," said a Whiz Kid.
Kids have an academic and social experience which comes from the relationship with a tutor and the support of the community presence at each site. There are more than 600 kids involved in the program with waiting lists at each facility. By investing two hours of your time, one night a week, a child's life can be touched and a difference made.
The rewards are endless: friendship, the intrinsic reward of making a difference in the city, a challenge to your own world view, and racial reconciliation-to name a few.
"My tutor helps me read, and doesn't make fun of me," said a fourth grader. The impact of sitting with a child reading a book, helping with homework, and working on a computer, can give him/her a new confidence when in the classroom.
This is not about a program, but a relationship, a person, love and friendship.
- Keep a kid interested in school
- Make the city a better place
- Increase academic self-confidence in a child
A Call For Action
We all know the kind of situations Denver's urban youth find themselves in, and we often ask ourselves what we can do.
"Alone, almost nothing. Yet one person-you alone-can make the differencethe failure of just one person to join, to participate, to do whatever he/she can may mean that there is just one too few to win the fight."-Archibald Cox
Here's the opportunity to start impacting the life of a child:
Did You Know?
The U.S. Department of Education reports that 2.2 million people -44,000 a week- are added to the adult illiterate population in the U.S. each year. Five billion dollars a year in taxes goes to support people receiving public assistance who are unemployable due to illiteracy. In 1997, nearly 12,000 students in Colorado dropped out of school.
"The gears of poverty, ignorance, hopelessness and low self-esteem interact to create a kind of perpetual failure machine that grinds down dreams from generation to generation. We all bear the cost of keeping it running. Illiteracy is its linchpin,"-Parade Magazine.
The Whiz Kids Tutoring program is attempting to break that cycle of illiteracy and poverty through weekly tutoring session for at-risk elementary school students in the inner city during the nine-month school year.
"The number one indicator of success for a child is a good relationship with a caring adult." -Fortune Magazine
For more information please call:
Whiz Kids Tutoring
5500 E. Yale, Suite 101
Denver, CO 80222
303-504-WHIZ (9449)