College Tutor

Name of agency and statement of purpose: The Karen Organization of Minnesota’s (KOM) mission is to build on the strengths of refugee and immigrant communities and remove barriers to achieving economic, social, and cultural wellbeing.

Purpose/objective: The college tutor will assist students in KOM’s Community Services and Interpreting Training (COSI) program through one-on-one and small group tutoring to help college-aged students advance their careers. These programs are offered by KOM in partnership with Century College, Roseville Adult Learning Center, and other partners. Participants in the program speak a variety of languages in addition to English, including, Karen, Burmese, Karenni, Arabic, Somali, Spanish, and more.

Key Responsibilities:

• Assist students with college human services coursework during class individually and in small groups as needed
• Transition to providing one-on-one tutoring outside of class time after the first few sessions
• Help students with the use of classroom technology as needed (i.e. Google Classroom and D2L)
• Help lower literacy-level students engage with the content and develop more understanding

Time commitment: Available at least once per week and commit to assisting through May 2025.  COSI program support sessions will be held on Thursday evenings from 5:30pm – 8:30pm, with the first session on Thursday, January 9th from 5:30pm – 7:30pm.  The volunteer would come in to the Thursday sessions for the first few weeks, and then be available to meet with students 1:1 for help with assignments outside of class time.

Location: Thursday sessions will be held primarily at the Roseville Adult Learning Center (in the Aŋpétu Téča Education Center building) 1910 County B Rd W, Roseville, MN 55113. One-on-one tutoring may be held online on Zoom, or at other agreed upon public locations (local libraries, KOM office, etc.).

Qualifications: KOM is looking for college students or adults who are friendly, patient and want to help a first-generation college student navigate their courses and help with homework. Tutors must be flexible and comfortable in cross-cultural settings. Some experience tutoring, especially with English language learners, and a general knowledge of classroom technologies are beneficial. Experience using Google Classroom and/or D2L is preferred but not required. Knowledge of the human services or social services fields are beneficial, but not required. Interest in human services, linguistics, language studies, and/or translation and interpreting are a plus.

Benefits: This position offers an excellent opportunity to learn about human services, translation and interpreting while gaining tutoring experience. The tutor will also gain understanding of the ethical complexities of interpreting and working in cross-cultural settings.

How to apply/contact: Please complete KOM’s online Volunteer Application or contact Suzanne Olive to receive a paper application. Volunteers will attend a meeting to discuss their interest in being a tutor and be subject to a background check.