In 2002, escalating incidences of violence between University and local high school students in the City of Charlottesville prompted local citizens, civic leaders, and University officials to meet to discuss solutions. After a year of collaboration, the group determined that U.Va. should do more to help local minority students increase self-esteem, create goals, and discover their abilities to seek higher education.
As a result, U.Va.’s Community Relations Office started Day in the Life (DITL), an outreach program supplying tutors and mentors for the area’s most under-served students.
DITL service sites are now located in local elementary, middle, and high schools, community organizations, and faith-based organizations. The sites have varying programs, including those for athletes, scholars, and musicians; as well as after-school tutoring, in-class tutoring and teacher assistance, and tutoring for in-school suspension. DITL also sponsors special events which bring local children on grounds to make the University more accessible. Between 450 and 500 U.Va. students tutor approximately 1,000 to1,200 youth in 28 different programs per semester. Since its inception, more than 2,223 UVA students have provided 67,921 direct service hours to 5,616 local youth.
Because of the diverse backgrounds and sheer numbers of U.Va. students who serve in this popular program, it increasingly forges deeper and wider tributaries of change throughout the local landscape.
DITL’s rapid growth (including a 63% increase in capacity from fall ’08 to fall ’09) is testimony to both its overwhelming success and its pressing need: adequate staffing. Over its eight year existence, DITL has been staffed predominantly by AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers who have done the “heavy lifting,” and it has also been supported by U.Va. It has outgrown these resources, however, and now needs significant additional help.
There are many mentoring and tutoring programs in Charlottesville, but one factor among many that distinguishes Day in the Life is that it provides a consistent, reliable, and accountable source of tutors for children who have the most need of these qualities in their lives if they are to succeed.
For more information on Day in the Life, please contact Danny Wilmer at 434-924-3939, or at dww6v@eservices.virginia.edu
www.virginia.edu/communityrelations/dayinlife.html