Our Story
Help young people learn how to be patient and communicate clearly (and slowly!) with adults and seniors
History
2010
We’ve got an idea, one that has a dual benefit: adults receive 1-on-1 tutoring, while youth gain a unique leadership opportunity
Summer 2010
We pilot a 3-month program with 10 youth and 10 adults with the help of a Toronto based nonprofit (the Centre for Learning & Development)
Feburary 2011
The program appears on the front page of Toronto’s most read newspaper, alongside the SuperBowl results
November 2011
The organization receives an Innovation Award from the United Nations. We are the youngest organization ever to receive it
April 2012
The program is recognized as a ‘Vital Idea’ by the Toronto Foundation, and grows to 5 locations
April 2013
The program grows internationally, launching in Ethiopia and Niger
September 2014
The program wins the Literacy Innovation Award, Canada’s top award in the education sector
September 2015
The program launches in Spain
November 2016
The organization wins the Urban Leadership Award
June 2017
The 2,500th participant is enrolled
April 2018
The program launches in Poland
September 2018
Our organization’s co-founder and Executive Director is elected as an Ashoka Fellow
October 2018
The program in Spain wins the country’s a top award for intercultural and inclusive education programming, and begins expanding to a dozen locations
March 2019
Youth have provided over 150,000 hours of free 1-on-1 tutoring, equivalent to over $3m in value
December 2019
The organization reaches over 80 program locations, serving more than 3,000 people
Our Mission
Turn young people from educated to educator.
We believe that all youth—whether introverted or extroverted, high or low academic achieving, able-bodied or disabled—have the potential to be changemakers in their community and teach adults & seniors the skills they have.
Keys to our Success
We view youth as a solution, not as a problem
Too often, youth are treated as a ‘problem’ that need to be fixed. We firmly believe that every young person is capable of being a ‘solution’
Our programs are carefully designed to be accessible to everyone.
All young people, whether introverted or extroverted, high or low academic standing, and able-bodied or disabled, are capable, with the right supports, of being a 1-on-1 tutor. Adults benefit by receiving free 1-on-1 tutoring, in their own native language (if needed), and they learn only what they want and need to learn — whether it be language skills, technology, playing the piano, or many others
A unique, award-winning curriculum
Teaching a skill to someone isn’t always easy. Our training and curriculum materials are carefully designed, with thousands of hours of development, to make it so that children as young as 9 years old have been able to be transformed into effective 1-on-1 tutors