Our goal is to help as many homeless and highly-mobile children as possible achieve grade-level proficiency and ultimately earn, at a minimum, a high school diploma. Through free tutoring and mentoring, we aim to help our students develop their academic skills and confidence, their self esteem, and their interest in and enjoyment of learning.

CEP recruits and trains volunteers to provide high-quality, individualized one-on-one academic tutoring and mentoring for pre-kindergarten - 12th grade homeless students. As a lack of transportation presents one of the most significant challenges homeless children face in their education, CEP takes its services to the children. Thus, most of the tutoring and mentoring takes place in shelters, transitional homes, libraries, coffee shops – wherever volunteers can meet their students. CEP provides all of its students, approximately 150 per year, with grade-appropriate backpacks, school supplies, and books throughout the school year. Additionally, CEP offers opportunities for local homeless students to participate in extra-curricular enrichment activities like field trips and CEP-hosted shelter-based activities, such as a Summer Reading Club and Back to School Nights. CEP has an Early Literacy Campaign designed to provide targeted literacy support for pre-K – 3rd grade students. The Early Literacy Campaign includes hosting a Summer Reading Club to help combat “summer slip" and encourage summer-time reading, as well as quarterly Family Reading Nights intended to get parents and kids reading and participating in literacy activities together. All of our volunteer tutors working with pre-K – 3rd grade students receive a Literacy Kit that includes grade level literacy standards, activity ideas, ability-appropriate books, assessment tools, and supplies. Volunteer tutors receive additional training on the importance of early literacy, how to support it, and how to best use the Literacy Kit. More recently, CEP launched a Digital Learning Program to provide experience and training with computers to our students who almost always land on the wrong side of the Digital Divide. Through weekly Computer Clubs, students use laptops to gain comfort and familiarity with computers and to further their academic skills through educational programs, activities, and games.

CEP has been serving homeless and highly-mobile students since 2010. Our volunteer tutors are the heart of the organization. They are a team of compassionate and dedicated individuals who volunteer each week to support our students. The volunteers are screened, trained, and supported by our Program Director and Program Coordinator. CEP volunteers also have access to hundreds of resources on our online Tutor Center. We have strong partnerships with housing and service providers and educators in the San Francisco Bay Area who refer students to CEP. We have an active and dedicated Board of Directors whose members bring important expertise (legal, housing, accounting, social services, education) to the organization.

We rely mostly on anecdotal and qualitative data to assess our students' educational progress as a result of CEP support. Sources include students' grades and feedback from teachers, tutors, parents, and the students, as well as shelter staff and social workers, who often refer the students to our program. When available, we evaluate students' scores on school district exams. We have elected not to evaluate our students' progress using our own assessments and tests, as our time with the students is limited and better spent studying, reading, and building healthy relationships. We, of course, keep track of the number of students served, the school supplies and books we distribute, the duration and frequency of tutoring sessions, the number of participants in the Early Literacy Campaign and Digital Learning Program, and the attendees at CEP-hosted educational events.

The Numbers
• 175+ Students have received one-on-one tutoring since 2011
• 100+ Additional students have participated in other CEP events like our Family Reading Nights, Spring Fairs, Reading Club, and Back to School Nights
• 2800+ One-on-one tutoring hours since 2011
• 150+ Volunteers have served as tutors
• 50+ Community members have volunteered with CEP in other capacities
• 4 Volunteers have tutored consistently for more than five years
• 50 Students receiving regular one-on-one tutoring at any given time
• 75 Students we hope will be receiving regular one-on-one tutoring at any given time by the spring of 2018
• 250+ Backpacks filled with grade-appropriate school supplies distributed
• 1500+ Books distributed to our students

Awareness Raising
Over the past five years, we have raised awareness about the needs of homeless youth through, for example,
• Guest lectures at UC Berkeley, Mills, and Berkeley City College
• Guest talks at local elementary and middle schools, as well as to community groups like Girl Scout Troops
• A presentation at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA)
• Interviews and stories with CBS, KPFA, and The Pioneer
• A publication in Critical Questions in Education
• Posting articles and related information on our Facebook and Instagram pages and our blog

Sadly, demand for our serves far exceeds our current capacity and we haven't reached as many kids as we would like to.