Righting Writing with After-School Tutoring in the Private Sector

Anyone who has read the McSweeny's magazine probably knows that Dave Eggers is amazing. He gave a TED talk (which is well worth watching) on this innovative idea to create a forum in his San Francisco publishing space for tutoring kids that needed help with writing called 826 Valencia. Combining amazing urban planning principles with community service, Eggers took street-front retail property and multi-purposed it into a publishing house, a writing tutoring center, and a pirate goods store. The idea has since spread across the nation, combining insane, fun, welcoming (opposed to places that are out of the way or appear remedial and thus embarrassing to kids) spaces with dedicated and talented writers to create a place where kids feel comfortable to learn in the heart of a business community with many professionals well-positioned to offer the exact help those kids need. I just discovered that I used to live above one of the spin-off 826 Centers (Museum of Unnatural History in Columbia Heights in DC).

For those without the time to watch the whole video, here are the key features of this neat model:

• Make volunteering as easy as possible: Writing professionals can offer tutoring right where they work.
• Make tutoring less embarrassing: set up a fun themed store as the streetside venue so that kids are not entering a remedial center, but something like a pirate store.
• Word of Mouth Marketing: By using a teaching professional in schools to encourage kids to go and then creating fun, interactive writing activities during and after school, they were able to capture kids and parents using word of mouth or direct demonstration, as if they were a business.

The model is incredibly intriguing because the use of professionals in space they already were paying for to do their publishing, a creative store that generated interest and eventually profits, and word-of-mouth/school professionals for advertising contributed to a low-overhead cost with a huge pay-off. This creates a community space, reduces likelihood of truancy, adds extra educational programming to a child's day, and bridges gaps between the educational and professional communities. It does so in a fluid environment that serves a variation of pace and skill levels in a way that a single-teacher classroom could not.

Talk about it!

If you were to start an 826 Franchise in your city, how would you set it up?

Do you think the model could be used for other school subjects and/or served by other types of professionals? Are there subjects or fields that might be limited in their ability to carry out this model?

Act on it!

Visit the 826 Group and donate materials or time to a local branch!

Find a way to bring your professional skills closer to a child so that they are better integrated with the labor market and are able to hone their knowledge using your skills!