Impact
Mission Statement: Joyous Tutoring improves the literacy of striving youth through chess, rap, African-American History, and more.
"The purpose of education is to inspire people to live life more abundantly." - Dr. Carter G. Woodson
The Racial Reading Achievement Gap
The main initiative of Joyous Tutoring is to directly address the abysmal racial reading achievement gap present in the education system, particularly here in Austin, Texas. We see this as an opportunity to locally engage and collaborate with parents/guardians and community stakeholders to inspire and support the youth. We know how vital reading ability is for long-term success and we believe that our young people are fully capable of excelling in literacy. Joyous Tutoring is committed to intentionally and deliberately targeting this disparity beginning with Chess Nights and growing to provide more services that have been proven to enhance reading and writing ability in the future, all for free, to our youth. Note: All youth are welcome, though we try to ensure our tutoring service participants are around at least 50% African-American because it represents the greatest area for literacy growth.
Our Tutoring Approach
All curriculum reading materials are curated based on the African-American History curiosities and reading genre interests of students and parents. In this manner, students have culturally-meaningful reading and writing experiences that increase their engagement with primary sources and Black Literature. Joyous Tutors implement this community-developed curriculum with evidence-based pedagogical practices through 1-on-1 or small group tutoring, over 6-12 weeks; Students' literacy progress is evaluated periodically during that time.
Impact
2023
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Hosted 9 Youth Chess Nights at the George Washington Carver Museum serving 184 participants
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Participated in 4 seasonal events at the Carver plus 1 Chess Club at Giddings State School of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department -- totaling over 90 students.
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7 students enrolled across 2 tutoring programs
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100% re-enrollment rate​
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100% reading growth rate
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Given away over 100 books featuring Black protagonists thanks to generous gifts by L.I.T. Kids, Barnes and Noble, Book People, and Half-Priced Books.
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Received over 100 meals in food donations for our Youth Chess Nights from Chik-Fil-A (@ Congress & 6th in Austin, TX)
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Raised over $11,000