Results tagged “volunteering”

Just because it's a short holiday week doesn't mean the President-Elect is resting on his laurels. It's been a busy week for Obama, especially in the news.

Apparently finding a summer job is not as easy as it used to be. Kids looking for part-time employment are facing a shrinking job market, and it's already difficult to land a job without experience or job history. And on July 1, the state will increase its minimum wage from $7.50 to $7.75, possibly increasing the squeeze on the number of available jobs.

There have been recent depressing reports of food banks like the Greater Chicago Food Depository suffering from some negative effects of rising gas prices. But the month of June holds some fun and alternative ways to support this particular organization and help to fight hunger in Chicago:

Operating under the belief that a future can start today, Minds Matter is a non-for-profit mentoring program that helps to jump-start the academic aspirations of inner city high school students. Since its 1991 inception in New York City, Minds Matter has branched out to chapters in Boston, Denver, and Portland, and now Minds Matter of Chicago is celebrating its second year with due fanfare, having achieved some major objectives for 2007 – sending all student mentees to summer college programs and exceeding fundraising goals.

Only in its second year, a new tutoring program within the Chicago Public School system is already getting some great press. The program, run by an organization called America’s Choice, pairs ninth graders at six Chicago high schools with first graders at neighboring elementary schools. It was primarily designed to help the literacy levels of the participating high school freshman, who on average, tested out at fifth grade reading levels last year.