U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is searching for tutors in New York City to help with her new Homework Helpers Program.

Late last month, New York City controversially closed public schools again because of the rising COVID-19 infection rate. Ocasio-Cortez decided to step in and create the Homework Helpers Program for students in her congressional district, which includes the eastern part of The Bronx, part of north-central Queens, and Rikers Island.

According to Parents, the congresswoman ran the pilot program for four weeks which helped 100 students living in the Throggs Neck neighborhood of The Bronx. Ocasio-Cortez said the larger program hopes to serve about 1,000 students in the 2020-2021 school year.

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“It was important for our community to step in and do what we do best, which is to empower and organize local families and leverage our robust volunteer base,” she told Parents. “As elected officials, we should step in to support our constituents when systems fail to do so.”

She has now decided to expand the program so that any student in New York’s 14th congressional district could have access to one hour of free virtual homework help each week.

According to the initiative’s website, the organization is creating a pool of volunteer tutors who can help fill some of the gaps left by virtual learning. They are specifically looking for tutors who can speak Spanish, Bangla, Urdu, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, French and Kru. You can sign up here to be a tutor.

“As many of you have probably heard, New York City public schools recently closed. Children who were attending school in person were abruptly switched to remote learning. With less than one day’s notice, families had to resume juggling working, childcare, and schooling,” an appeal posted to the Homework Helpers website read.

Source: AOC Launches Virtual Tutoring Program To Assist NY Students With Homework During Pandemic