Tutor incarcerated youth at Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles, IL

At Literacy Volunteers of Illinois (LVI), we believe it takes a whole city to teach a student. That's why our Jump Start program provides volunteer tutors to work one-on-one with young men who are incarcerated at the Illinois Youth Center in Chicago, supplying a robust educational support system where it is most needed. The youth range from 13 to 21 years of age and almost all are behind in reading and math. We ask for a minimum time commitment of 1-1.5 hours per week, in which volunteers work with one youth at a time, though some volunteers may choose to do more. Teaching/tutoring experience is preferred but not required and training and resources are provided. All tutoring is done in a supervised setting.

Tutors must be over 21 years of age. Tutoring hours are 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Monday - Friday. For more details contact Alex Kessler at Literacy Volunteers of Illinois: akessler@lvillinois.org.

Note: The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice requires LVI staff and volunteers serving in their system to go through a background check, fingerprinting, TB test, and an observed drug test.