OAKLAND SERVES
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to improve the future of high school youth by increasing their success in high school today. Oakland Serves is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the graduation rate of Oakland high school students. High school graduation is vital to increase student’s future opportunities as well as that of Oakland's diverse communities. We focus on improving academic success for the struggling or disengaged student by placing academic mentors directly into classes that are critical to student graduation. Mentors attend class weekly and provide in-person, individual or small group attention to students falling behind. In the current educational environment with teacher shortages, post-pandemic education losses and social distractions, our mentors can provide the opportunity for students to reconnect with their educational path and succeed.
About This Cause
Oakland Serves prioritizes in-class mentoring. We partner with individual Oakland high schools and OUSD's central programs that identify classes that can benefit from our services. We work in regular classrooms as well as dedicated credit recovery classes during the school year and in intense summer school programs. We believe our in-person, in-class model is the best way to increase success for students that need additional support and/or have become disengaged or demoralized by failure. By being in the classroom, we are with students when they are most receptive to learning. Our mentors understand the common mis-understandings and errors that students make that decrease their ability to learn and study. We know what concepts are being taught and can re-enforce them in real time. We know what goals and expectations teachers have for student work and can encourage organization, problem-solving and completion. While classroom mentoring is our main focus, we do engage in after-school academic programs and virtual mentoring under specific circumstances and as requested by school personnel. Our adult mentors are recruited from Oakland and surrounding communities and include college students, working adults and retirees. They are all screened by the Dept of Justice and trained by Oakland Serves to go into classrooms. Each mentor commits to going in to the same classroom once per week for the school year, getting to know the students, appreciating their challenges and sharing their successes.