West Los Angeles College student Danielle Wise leads a book club.

Speak UP has expanded its popular iFamily program, which provides free tech training for parents and free virtual tutoring for low-income students. Speak UP is pleased to announce collaborations with both Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles and West Los Angeles College for its iTutors program, as well as student book clubs and additional ESL and citizenship classes for parents.

When schools closed in March, Speak UP immediately responded to the needs of our 4000 parent members by launching iFamily to give parents who were newly accessing technology free one-to-one training to use Zoom and help get kids into the virtual classroom. Because live teaching was optional in the spring, many kids fell out of contact with their teachers. As a result, Speak UP also mobilized to launch iTutors, which provides free 1:1 virtual tutoring to some of LAUSD’s most vulnerable students to help mitigate learning loss.

In just the first few months, over 350 students from Pre-K to high school received nearly 3000 tutoring sessions from a cadre of dedicated volunteer iTutors. In addition, over 400 parents and other caregivers participated in iFamily tech training to help close the digital TechKnowledge divide.

The LMU School of Education faculty is working closely with the LMU Center for Service and Action to recruit university students to serve as volunteer iTutors with Speak UP. Their goal is to prepare 400 LMU students for this important, volunteer role. Veronica Backer-Peral, one of the first LMU students to get involved, said being an iTutor was “one of the best experiences I have ever had.”

Over the summer and this fall, iFamily expanded its offerings with several new programs, all free and delivered virtually. That included grade-level book clubs led by trained volunteer facilitators and designed not only to improve reading skills but also to provide a much needed social outlet during school closures.

For adults, iFamily now includes small-group English as a Second Language classes that meet once or twice a week, as well as citizenship classes to help parents pass the U.S. citizenship exam. Both are offered in conjunction with the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian nonprofit organization, and the Engagement & Learning Division of the Los Angeles Public Library. iFamily’s Zoom classes also help participants access the wide range of virtual programming offered by the library.

Allen Lam, another member of the first cohort of LMU student iTutors, said he is thrilled to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable kids during the pandemic. “Especially in these trying times, there are students in need of a little boost in order to get their enthusiasm for education rolling, and maybe more importantly, in need of a friend,” he said.

Meanwhile, students in the Teacher Pathways program at West Los Angeles College are also stepping up to become iTutors. In doing so, they are also able to complete some of their required fieldwork hours, which has become a challenge with physical classrooms mostly closed in Los Angeles.

According to Speak UP iTutors program director Tracy Grand, “Even in these uncertain times, one thing is clear: each one of us is capable of helping another person in a meaningful way. Through iFamily, we have created a program that helps families feel empowered by offering resources for adults and children to continue to move forward in their learning. Both the students and the tutors make a positive impact on each other’s lives that will last a lifetime.”

For more information about iFamily, visit http://speakupparents.org/speak-up-ifamily or contact Jenny Hontz at jenny@speakupparents.org.