Help a Child Develop Reading Skills

Spend just a couple hours a week and help ensure success for a young person!

San Francisco Public Library is helping young people catch up to grade-level reading and strengthen their skills through our FOG Readers tutoring program.

We are seeking volunteers to work one-on-one with students in Grades 1-4, using the FOG (Free Orton-Gillingham) Readers method, which employs multisensory learning, phonics-based instruction, and other tools to demystify the process of reading.

As a volunteer tutor, you will meet with your student once a week (online or at a library location) in the late afternoon, evenings, or on the weekend. SFPL will provide all materials and training, as well as offer ongoing support.

Volunteers should:

• Commit to the training sessions and at least one hour of tutoring per week for at least 6 months, with up to one hour of preparation before each lesson.
• Enjoy working with a young person who will need patience and encouragement
• Follow a structured, phonics-based curriculum designed to fill in learning gaps for remedial readers
• Be at least 15 years of age
• Provide fingerprints for a background check (requires SSN; cost is covered by the program)
• Be excited to share a passion for reading (and sympathize with the frustration of struggling to read)!

Benefits of volunteering:

• Make a meaningful, lasting difference for a child by building critical literacy skills.
• Serve your community
• Learn valuable skills tutoring and mentoring that can be applied to other areas of life

Interested in helping out? Volunteer trainings are held every other month. To start the process, please fill out an interest form here:

on.sfpl.org/vol-fog