Cambridge houses a large community of low-income and immigrant families. Youth from these families often do not receive the help they need outside of school because parents work long hours and do not speak English fluently. These young people need help with their homework and a safe environment in which to work, learn, and play. Through the Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program, an academic summer program, some of these needs are addressed during the summer time, but parents were left without a term-time equivalent when the summer was over. Our program seeks to provide these youth and families with the support they need during the school year. Our program is free and includes homework help and academic and extracurricular enrichment.

The Cambridge After School Program (CASP) is a tutoring / mentoring program for low-income, at-risk youth in the Cambridge community. The program runs for two hours, four days a week. The first hour is devoted to academic support, during which each volunteer works with two to three students on homework and other academic activities. The second hour focuses on academic and extracurricular enrichment. During this hour volunteers have the opportunity to teach a lesson on a subject about which they are passionate (from arts to sports to academics). The first hour of the program aims to provide students with a basic foundation for success in the classroom. The second part of the program is designed to expose our youth to opportunities not often available to them. CASP strives to be a partner for Cambridge families and to provide a helping hand to our community's young people, while offering volunteers a valuable learning experience. Working in Cambridge allows volunteers to become more invested in the community in which they live. This experience gives students the opportunity to learn more about the diversity, politics, and culture of Cambridge and to explore the community outside the infamous "Harvard bubble". Our program also allows volunteers to gain valuable experience in working with youth, planning and organizing curricula, and working with a community.

The Cambridge After School Program began as a pilot program under the umbrella of the Phillips Brooks House Association, an independent, student-run non-profit committed to social justice in Cambridge and Boston communities. As a pilot program we did not have any funding or a large enough space, but we were able to grow with our limited resources and become officially affiliated with the Phillips Brooks House Association. We began in a small room in a library in North Cambridge, but now work out of a larger community room in Rindge Towers. We also began a literacy program for our youth that has had tremendous success and positive feedback from parents. However, we have hopes to expand our program even further. With the space that we have we cannot meet the community need and must reject a number of students each semester. We would also like to start math, writing, and service-learning programs for our youth, but do not currently have funding that would enable us to do so. So far we have helped to improve our 19 students' performance in school, but there are about 30 more students who would like to participate in our program and cannot because of our limited space and resources.

We are always in need of more volunteers and materials. We are also in the process of looking for a larger space so that we can serve more youth. In-kind donations are always helpful.