Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our organizing is working to address the need that children experiencing homelessness have for extra support in order to succeed in school. The number of homeless students has doubled since 2007. Nationwide, some 2.5 million children (one in 30) do not have a stable place to sleep at night – and California alone has 526,708 homeless children, the third most in the nation per capita. This is tragic as homelessness takes a significant and devastating toll on their lives, their health, their relationships, and their education. Research studies show that students who have ever been homeless or highly mobile have significantly lower academic achievement in reading and math throughout elementary and middle school—and lower rates of academic growth—than students who had stable homes. They also have higher rates of suicide, mental illness, substance abuse and premature death.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
One-on-one tutoring and mentoring services
Our major program is one-on-one weekly tutoring. In addition, we provide backpacks, school supplies and school uniforms; a toll-free number for kids to keep in touch with us; assistance in entering school; help in locating lost records; parent guidance in educational matters for their children; awarding scholarships.
Where we work
Awards
Minerva Award 2009
California Governor's award
Woman of Worth 2012
LOreal Paris
Children's "Nobel Prize" 2008
World Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child,
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsTotal number of students participating in private lessons
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
One-on-one tutoring and mentoring services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Over the past 29 years, we have served more than 50,000 students Every one of these kids has a story, a past, and a future All have one thing in common—a volunteer tutor to help them succeed in school
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
One-on-one tutoring and mentoring services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Volunteer tutors meet students consistently for a minimum of one hour per week. We provide training and support and they commit to a full year of volunteering.
Number of students registered for online courses
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
One-on-one tutoring and mentoring services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In 2021 we tutored 95% of our students remotely - we were fortunate to already have a robust online tutoring program that allowed us to connect students and tutors quickly and safely.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our overarching goal is always to help children k-12th grade, who are homeless with their education. The most important element of that goal: our tutoring program. Our volunteers are the very heart of our organization. They come from all backgrounds and professions to spend at least an hour each week teaching, mentoring, and assisting the educational life of a homeless child. Hundreds of tutors meet their students at our Skid Row Learning Center but the vast majority travel to where the children live in a service area that spans more than 2,500 square miles. Together last year, they provided more than 100,000 hours of focused educational support to over 3,624 homeless children.
The importance of just one caring adult for at-risk youth has been documented by studies of resilience, and positive support from teachers (a group in which we count our tutors) is related to greater educational success of their students. Supportive relationships are known to be critical for youth development; they provide an environment of reinforcement, positive modeling, and constructive feedback for physical, intellectual, psychological, and social growth. By matching volunteer tutors with students experiencing homelessness over the course of a year, we are providing these kids a chance to break the vicious cycle of homelessness through education, and showing them positive role models and mentors whose influence can last a lifetime.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
In order to achieve our Strategic Plan, we created a number of action plans and strategies to govern the expansion of our tutoring services: 1. Add additional staff members to recruit, conduct outreach and match homeless students with volunteers. Target special populations of volunteers - high school students, higher-aged and retired individuals, home-bound and long-distance volunteers who can participate in online tutoring. 2. Create partnerships with organizations to leverage our scope and deepen our impact. Share resources and costs with synergistic organizations who provide services and products we cannot.. 3. Enhance our core program through the design, development, and implementation of a digital learning environment, a combination of online learning and one-on-one tutoring. We will supplement our traditional tutoring methods with the use of technology, including online tutoring, adaptive learning and assessment programs, and educational apps.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We are extremely fortunate in the extent of our human resources capabilities. First, we benefit from a committed and active Board. Several Board members have strong relationships with outside funders and have used those relationships to spark site visits that led to proposals and funding. One Board member uses his extensive connections to get us not only financial donations but also services. One Director hosts holiday parties at his beachfront restaurant for hundreds of homeless children each year, giving them a rare chance to enjoy a carefree day in a setting that is completely foreign to too many of them; another represents a beacon of hope and inspiration for the entire South Los Angeles community and provides regular introductions to organizations that solicit volunteers on our behalf. All our directors are deeply committed to our mission and do what they can to support and further our goals.
These leaders are a wonderful complementary asset to our staff, the key members of whom have all been with us for more than 10 years and have extensive business knowledge and experience working with homeless students. Our Executive Director has over 30 years of for-profit and nonprofit business and programmatic experience.
Our long-term partnerships with hundreds of shelters, large and small school districts, social service agencies, corporations, major and family foundations and universities and colleges throughout our service areas contribute in every way to strengthening and deepening our impact on the education of homeless students.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2019 we tutored 3,200 students, distributed over 7,400 backpacks and school supplies, hosted 2,464 volunteers, tutored in six counties in Southern California.
Our remarkable, dedicated volunteers continue to change the lives of our students, providing them not only with educational help but also friendship, stability, and support during a time of great anxiety and fear. School on Wheels is the only organization in Southern California exclusively dedicated to the educational needs of children devasted by homelessness. There are many organizations that serve children, but these tend to provide basic services (shelter, food, clothing) and refer to us to provide the educational ones (indeed, we currently have working relationships with more than 175 shelters). There are also many organizations that focus on education, but these serve all children who are struggling and do not address the particular needs of children experiencing homelessness. Our impact is based on the fact that we focus on the specific barriers that stand between children and the education they need and deserve to escape a life on the streets, providing both the concrete assistance and emotional supports that research (and youth who are homeless themselves) have identified as important to their ability to stay in and do well in school. Every year we grow and work towards our goal of helping more homeless students. Unfortunately, the number of homeless children keeps increasing, so too does the need for School on Wheels!
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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SCHOOL ON WHEELS INC
Board of directorsas of 01/04/2023
Mr. Josh Fein
Chief Financial Officer, Property Management Associates, Inc.
Term: 2015 -
Steven Dahlberg
The Kissel Company, Inc.
Joshua Fein
Property Management Associates, Inc.
Laurie Levit
Catherine Meek
School on Wheels, Inc.
Rev. Cecil L. "Chip” Murray
Tanzy Chair in Christian Ethics, University of Southern California
Clifford Neiman
Principal, The Neiman Group
Janet Ambrosi Wertman
JAW Consulting
Beong-Soo Kim
Kaiser Permanente
Angela Sanchez
ECMC Foundation
Christine Chambers Goodman
Pepperdine University
Ellen Padnos
Joyful Giving
Lynne M Gardner
Melissa Zuckerman
Principal Communications
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 08/31/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.