Grade A Plus, Inc.

PARTNER TYPE

Community Based Education

DESCRIPTION AND MISSION

Grade A Plus, Inc. is a community based organization committed to academic, enrichment and mentoring support for youth and their families enrolled in the program. Grade A Plus, Inc. seeks to enrich and encourage the whole child by engaging volunteers that care and desire to do community service.

The Grade A Plus mission is to motivate student learning, inspire academic curiosity and increase confidence in the practice of problem solving. 

Community Service volunteers interact with youth through our Academic Support, Enrichment Support, Mentoring Support, and Marketing and Community Event Support teams.  Community support volunteers have the opportunity to engage in leadership activities in a real-world community setting. Volunteer participation contributes to the overall support of the community development goals of the organization.

Academic Support team members provide tutoring in math, reading and writing, or needed subjects on site or through virtual learning. Enrichment Support team members provide engagement in physical fitness  (i.e. dance, swimming, basketball, or jump rope). Science and Art (i.e. robotics, art enrichment, and science activities) can be led by community volunteers willing to serve as leaders.  Mentoring Support team members assist with positive youth development experiences designated for all grade levels. Middle School examples are Entrepreneur Workshop, Girls or Boyz groups, or the Employment Opportunity Program for High Schoolers. These activities contribute toward building confidence, developing perserverance, improving identity development, and responding to social wellbeing and mental health. Marketing and Community Event Support team members engage in activities related to social media, website, and newsletter production,data collection, and marketing events. 

ACTIVITIES:

The "Grade A!" program opportunities for engagement are available virtually on Monday's for the high school mentoring program and some academic support by appointment. Tues. & Thurs. engagement is on-site for academic support.  Wed. & Fri. focuses on enrichment support and is often off site, field trips, tours and speaker presentations. Marketing support requires knowledge of marketing tools  ie. Canva, Wix, Ai, and Google apps. Graphic Design, photography, and video skills are also needed by the marketing group. Engagement is open for Fall and Spring semester for 10-13 weeks and a Summer term from June to July is available.

The participation commitment is to provide 60-90 minutes of community service at least once a week for a 20hr credit and twice a week for a 35 hr credit. Volunteers can earn more time by attending multiple sessions in a week or participating in more flexibly designated activities. 

Training sessions will be available during the first three weeks of the new term.  All support activities occur between  3:30 - 6:30 PM. Interviews will be scheduled as soon as the Volunteer Application Form has been submitted through the website at  www.gradeaplusinc.org  and a one page resume with your statement of interest has been submitted to gapinfo@gradeaplusinc.org.  The program site is a 15-minute walk from campus (0.7 miles) near the downtown area. 

SPECIAL EMPHASIS AND SKILLS:

Mentoring, Tutoring, Middle School Emphasis, Youth Emphasis, Elementary School Emphasis, Youth Development, High School Emphasis