Our Mission and History
"The strength of the program is the direct contact of two types of learners, both of whom have things to teach each other."
- DCSP Tutor
Our Mission
The D.C. Schools Project recruits Georgetown students and gives them the support necessary to effectively provide English as a Second Language tutoring services to the District's low-income youth and adults of immigrant backgrounds.
The D.C. Schools Project seeks to fulfill the following goals for the youth and adults that we serve:
- Improve their literacy skills and academic performance;
- Develop their confidence so that they can realize their potential, through mentoring and support;
- Increase their ability to fully participate in the cultural, civic, educational, and economic life in U.S. society;
- Increase their access to resources so that they may contribute to the positive development of their families, communities, and US society in general.
The D.C. Schools Project seeks to fulfill the following goals for the volunteer tutors that we serve:
- Increase their understanding of issues related to the D.C. urban life and immigrant experience, the system of public education, and issues related to literacy;
- Challenge their perceptions about D.C. and its people, neighborhoods, and issues.
- Expose them to career options related to service, education, social justice, and other community efforts;
- Provide an opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate factors that contributed to their own success;
- Increase their understanding of the social and political factors that help or hinder the achievement of the youth and adults we serve, and other marginalized communities.
To accomplish our goals, DCSP works with a network of community resources that serve D.C.'s immigrant population.
Our History
Since its inception in January 1984, the D.C. Schools Project has recruited thousands of Georgetown undergraduates to work with the increasing numbers of families of immigrant backgrounds in the District of Columbia. Initiated by Dan Porterfield, a Georgetown alum and Senior Vice President for Strategic Development, in cooperation with Rev. Harold Bradley, S.J. the founder of the Center for Immigration Policy and Refugee Assistance (now the Center for Intercultural Education and Development -- CIED), the D.C. Schools Project was originally launched due to the sudden and dramatic increase in the immigrant population as a result of the civil war plaguing El Salvador. As the project continues to thrive, however, the language minority base has spread from solely a Hispanic population to one that includes children of Vietnamese, Chinese, and African immigrants.
In the spring of 1997, the program moved from CIED to merge with the Office of Volunteer and Public Service (VPS). In 2001, VPS became part of the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching, and Service at Georgetown University.
On March 27, 2004, the D.C. Schools Project held its 20th Anniversary Charity Gala at the Washington Club. Dr. Dan Porterfield, founder of DCSP, prepared a few words for the occasion.
