JOIN OUR TEAM: BECOME A LITERACY COACH

Refugee Transitions is looking for committed and culturally sensitive volunteers to become Literacy Coaches.  Coaches provide support to refugee and immigrant families and play a critical role in helping the agency service its mission.  Volunteering with Refugee Transitions is a great way to help your community and have a real impact on the lives of others.

VOLUNTEER APPLICATION

To fill out a volunteer application, click here.

OUR CURRENT NEEDS

We are currently looking for tutors to help with the following programs:

• Home-based tutoring for youth and adults in Oakland (male tutors are especially needed)
• Home-based tutoring for youth and adults in the South Bay
• Home-based tutoring for youth and adults in San Francisco (male tutors are especially needed and tutors able to drive to student's homes in Hunters Point/Bay View and Visitacion Valley)
• After school tutoring at Oakland International High School (volunteers who have strong math and science skills and/or who speak Burmese, Arabic, or Cantonese are especially needed)
• After school tutoring at San Francisco International High School (male volunteers and volunteers who speak Cantonese, Russian and Spanish are especially needed)

OUR PROGRAMS

As a Literacy Coach, you have the option of working with clients in either our adult or youth program:

ESL Civics Education and Orientation Program: This program provides adult clients with home-based and on-site ESL instruction and civics education. Adult Literacy Coaches help students acquire the language and literacy skills needed to engage more actively in their communities, and to access important civic institutions and public resources.

Bridge 2-Success Youth Development Program:  This program provides immigrant and refugee youth with the support they need to succeed academically, develop career-readiness skills, form healthy attachments, and maintain supportive relationships with adults and peers.  We match Youth Literacy Coaches with refugee and immigrant youth aged 6-18 for home-based individualized tutoring/mentoring and on-site group tutoring at a school site. 

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Refugee Transitions is recruiting Literacy Coaches for both our adult and youth programs in San Francisco, the East Bay, and the South Bay.  RT will provide you with extensive training and resources; no knowledge of a second language is required.  Literacy Coaches work in the family’s home, which makes our program accessible to clients who have difficulty commuting to outside classes due to physical difficulties, childcare and work obligations, fear, and lack of familiarity with the city and its services. Literacy Coaches also support our after school tutoring programs at school sites and ESL Civics classes at community sites.

We require a minimum six month commitment for Coaches working with adults, and a minimum nine month commitment for those working with youth (or at least a semester commitment for those tutoring at one of our after school programs).  As many of our clients have endured considerable upheaval in their lives, we stress this obligation in order to provide a stable and supportive learning environment.

RT encourages Coaches to extend this commitment, and find that long-term volunteer-student relationships are particularly beneficial.  Although RT's core focus is providing home-based ESL instruction, Literacy Coaches have the opportunity to go above and beyond this role, engaging students as mentors, cultural ambassadors, and advocates.

VOLUNTEER REQUIREMENTS

Mandatory requirements

• Attendance at two initial trainings before being matched with a client, plus one additional training within the first 6 months
• Ability to meet with your student 2-4 hours per week  
• 6 month minimum commitment for volunteers working with adults
• 9 month minimum commitment for volunteers working with youth
• Semester minimum commitment for volunteers working at a school site
• Cultural sensitivity 
• Dedication, patience, and the ability to provide your student with reliable support
• Enthusiasm and a desire to help refugee and immigrant families

Useful skills (but not required)

• Knowledge of a second language
• Cross-cultural experience
• Prior experience working with refugees or immigrants
• Teaching experience

Benefits for Literacy Coaches

• Develop valuable teaching, mentorship, and advocacy skills
• Gain substantial cross-cultural experience
• Receive training on a range of topics relevant to refugees and immigrants
• Strengthen your community and acquire leadership skills
• Improve your ability to problem solve
• Expand your network of socially-active individuals
• Make a difference in someone’s life!