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Last year, a group of University of Ottawa students formed a not-for-profit-organization to provide homeless residents of Ottawa with high-quality, one-on-one tutoring.
For how much? Absolutely free.
Since its conception, CAUSE (Community, Accessibility, Upscaling, Sustainability, Education) has flourished from one small idea into a thriving group of talented students working to give the residents of Ottawa shelters equal educational opportunities. Originally an avid volunteer, CAUSE’s executive director, Tina Yuan, received a Youth Action Grant from the United Way. Her project, entitled “Youth Oasis”, provided free, monthly recreational activities to young women living in shelters over a 12-month period.
During this experience, Yuan saw firsthand their personal challenges as well as their struggles with high school education. With her passion to help others and as someone who has previously benefited from tutoring services, she was convinced that these young women would benefit from a free tutoring service. This inspired idea of providing free, one-on-one tutoring to homeless residents would develop into CAUSE Tutoring’s central mission.
Currently, the organization has expanded to adult men and women who wish to seize more opportunities in life but simply lack the necessary resources and connections to get a foot back into the educational arena.
Each of CAUSE Tutoring’s volunteer tutors has completed comprehensive police background checks, achieved a grade of 90 per cent or higher in the subject they are tutoring and completed a comprehensive tutor-training program.
The organization strongly believes that education is essential for creating new opportunities necessary to improve one’s quality of life. As such, it is vital to increase access to high-quality education, especially for socio-economically vulnerable segments of the community.
“Sometimes we just need a bit of extra help,” Yuan says. “My dream is that this organization will help students who would otherwise not have the means to obtain tutoring, to get that bit of extra help — so that students, regardless of their socio-economic status or age, can continue chasing their dreams.”
To date, the organization has established partnerships with four Ottawa shelters, gathered more than 80 student tutors from the University of Ottawa, an organizational team of more than two dozen students, and has successfully executed a pilot project over the course of the fall semester.
Looking to the future, CAUSE is excited to announce its newest, most pressing initiative, a technology drive. A truly staggering amount of free, interactive, educational resources are available online to dedicated learners, but Ottawa’s homeless have historically had many barriers between themselves and these programs. “Not for long”, says Yuan. CAUSE is seeking donations of unused electronics such as old laptops or tablets in order to better provide for their students. Any donation helps, and each piece of equipment brings another student into the 21st century.
“There are a lot of resources on the Internet that are easily accessible and standardized that we can take advantage of if we have the basic technology for it,” Yuan said. “The people that we’re tutoring don’t have the financial resources to get their hands on this really basic technology, so our drive is our way trying to addressing this pressing need.”
CAUSE Tutoring maintains high hopes for the success and expansion of this initiative beyond the Ottawa region within the upcoming years. If you are interested in joining the CAUSE, or finding out more, check out their website at www.causetutoring.org, or contact them directly through info@causetutoring.org
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For how much? Absolutely free.
Since its conception, CAUSE (Community, Accessibility, Upscaling, Sustainability, Education) has flourished from one small idea into a thriving group of talented students working to give the residents of Ottawa shelters equal educational opportunities. Originally an avid volunteer, CAUSE’s executive director, Tina Yuan, received a Youth Action Grant from the United Way. Her project, entitled “Youth Oasis”, provided free, monthly recreational activities to young women living in shelters over a 12-month period.
During this experience, Yuan saw firsthand their personal challenges as well as their struggles with high school education. With her passion to help others and as someone who has previously benefited from tutoring services, she was convinced that these young women would benefit from a free tutoring service. This inspired idea of providing free, one-on-one tutoring to homeless residents would develop into CAUSE Tutoring’s central mission.
Currently, the organization has expanded to adult men and women who wish to seize more opportunities in life but simply lack the necessary resources and connections to get a foot back into the educational arena.
Each of CAUSE Tutoring’s volunteer tutors has completed comprehensive police background checks, achieved a grade of 90 per cent or higher in the subject they are tutoring and completed a comprehensive tutor-training program.
The organization strongly believes that education is essential for creating new opportunities necessary to improve one’s quality of life. As such, it is vital to increase access to high-quality education, especially for socio-economically vulnerable segments of the community.
“Sometimes we just need a bit of extra help,” Yuan says. “My dream is that this organization will help students who would otherwise not have the means to obtain tutoring, to get that bit of extra help — so that students, regardless of their socio-economic status or age, can continue chasing their dreams.”
To date, the organization has established partnerships with four Ottawa shelters, gathered more than 80 student tutors from the University of Ottawa, an organizational team of more than two dozen students, and has successfully executed a pilot project over the course of the fall semester.
Looking to the future, CAUSE is excited to announce its newest, most pressing initiative, a technology drive. A truly staggering amount of free, interactive, educational resources are available online to dedicated learners, but Ottawa’s homeless have historically had many barriers between themselves and these programs. “Not for long”, says Yuan. CAUSE is seeking donations of unused electronics such as old laptops or tablets in order to better provide for their students. Any donation helps, and each piece of equipment brings another student into the 21st century.
“There are a lot of resources on the Internet that are easily accessible and standardized that we can take advantage of if we have the basic technology for it,” Yuan said. “The people that we’re tutoring don’t have the financial resources to get their hands on this really basic technology, so our drive is our way trying to addressing this pressing need.”
CAUSE Tutoring maintains high hopes for the success and expansion of this initiative beyond the Ottawa region within the upcoming years. If you are interested in joining the CAUSE, or finding out more, check out their website at www.causetutoring.org, or contact them directly through info@causetutoring.org
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