VOLUNTEER IN EAST PALO ALTO
Volunteer with East Palo Alto youth.
We welcome volunteers aged sixteen or older. No prior experience is needed! Our volunteers are students, full-time workers, and retirees who have two or more hours per week to help a student succeed.
Interest form first. This short form is not the application. Live Scan for ages 18 and over comes later.
- Rooted in East Palo Alto since 1984
- Background check for every volunteer 18 and over
- Staff on site during program hours
WHAT WE DO HERE
One neighborhood, since 1984.
Hope Horizon offers a safe space, homework help, and STEM enrichment, a six-week summer camp, college scholarships, and optional mentoring for TK through 12th grade students East of Bayshore. Volunteers are not extra help around the edges. They are how a student gets an adult who is not in a hurry.
WAYS TO SERVE
Where you might fit.
Homework Helper
Sit with one student and work through homework, 4 to 6 pm, Monday through Thursday. Tutoring and reading-buddy roles run at summer camp rather than through the school year.
Start with this Mon–Thu · 5–6 pmSpiritual mentor
Spiritual mentors meet with students from 5 to 6 pm, within our Monday to Thursday afterschool window.
Start with this Tue & Thu · 5–6:30 pmElementary First LEGO League
5 to 6:30 pm, Tuesday and Thursday.
Start with thisMiddle School First LEGO League
5 to 6:30 pm, Monday and Wednesday.
Start with thisInterested in coaching high school robotics? Learn more here.
Friday Hang
Friday Hangs are relaxed gatherings serving middle school and elementary students on alternating weeks. You are welcome to bring an activity you enjoy, such as art or a sport, but you do not have to.
Start with this CampusReceptionist
The receptionist greets visitors, volunteers, and parents and ensures lobby and facility safety.
Start with this Summer + eventsCamp or event help
Summer camp and a small number of Friday events across the year.
Start with this FlexibleA professional skill
Photography, writing, design, or grant work, offered on a schedule that fits you.
Start with thisPlanning a group service day? Contact us early so we can identify a project that is genuinely useful to the programs. Group projects often work best as facility-improvement days or alongside one of our Friday events.
VOLUNTEER INTEREST
Start here.
Most people already know what they want to do. Name that role on the application and it goes through the normal review. If you are not sure, say so and the volunteer team will talk it through with you.
Tell us you are interested
Name, contact, preferred role, and when you are free.
HOW IT WORKS
Three steps after the interest form.
Complete the volunteer application
The longer form. Name the role you want, or say you are not sure yet and talk it through with the volunteer team.
Interview with a member of staff
Complete the applicable Live Scan background check
This process can take time, so start on it as soon as possible.
SAFETY AND SUPPORT
What we require, and what you get.
What we require
- Every volunteer age 18 or older must be cleared through a Live Scan background check before working one-on-one with students.
- Unscreened volunteers may help at events but are not permitted to be alone with students.
What you get
- Staff on site during program hours.
WHAT IT IS ACTUALLY LIKE
Show up for a kid. That is the whole job.
Most current youth-program opportunities take place Monday through Thursday in the late afternoon, during our afterschool hours. Spiritual mentors meet slightly later. Friday Hang runs on Fridays, alternating between middle school and elementary.
You do not need to be a teacher. What matters most is consistency, willingness to listen, and respect for young people and families.
WHAT SHOWING UP MEANS
Consistency matters more than expertise.
Nobody here needs you to arrive as an expert. What a student notices is whether the same adult comes back next week, and the week after that. That is the whole mechanism, and it is why we ask about your availability before we ask about your skills.
Volunteers who stay tend to describe the same thing: they came to help with homework and ended up part of something. You get to know a student, their sense of humour, what they are working toward. That is the part nobody can schedule for you.
A TYPICAL AFTERNOON
What the two hours actually look like.
- Students arrive from school, have a snack, and settle in.
- You sit with a student or a small group, and work through reading or homework at their pace.
- Staff are on site the whole time. When you are stuck, you ask.
- Some afternoons are robotics or a project instead. Fridays are Friday Hangs.
- You leave, and coming back next week is the part that matters most.
Want to see Hope Horizon in action?
Visit during an afterschool afternoon, meet our team, and learn where your time or skills could fit.
No commitment, no application, and nobody will ask you for money at the door.
More ways to help
Not ready to volunteer? Open a door another way.
$250 sends a kid to camp for six weeks. A monthly gift keeps a tutoring seat open all year. Both reach the same students you would sit beside.