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Searching for a way to give back this year? Think about volunteering as tutor. Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation and Volunteer MPS are just two partnership organizations that will help match your volunteer preferences with a tutoring program in either Saint Paul or Minneapolis. Each year, about 500 new volunteers are matched with a program through Volunteer in MPS. With a new term starting, both these organizations are searching for reliable people to join these rewarding programs.

Several years ago, Lorenzo Ariza returned “in a low mood” from a trip to his native Mexico. He described his distress over the poverty and lack of economic opportunity he’d seen to fellow Mexican entrepreneur Ramon León. León began to share his vision of a brighter economic future for Mexico with Ariza, and they are now working to make that vision into a reality. As president and vice president of the Mexican Restaurant Association Minnesota (MERA-MN), they are celebrating their first year. In order to promote lasting change, MERA-MN members are working with local officials from Morelos on economic development projects. Their desire is to assist their hometowns long term and thus alleviate the problem of mass migration to the United States.

When it comes to education, Joe Nathan has been around the block. He was a teacher and administrator for St. Paul Public Schools, a PTA president, on the board of the state PTA, and he worked for the National Governors Association, working with several states attempting to pass legislation on education. Now, he's working with the Center for School Change.

Every Saturday, about 50 volunteers come to Hope Community center to volunteer in the tutoring program with students from different backgrounds. The children from 6-9 years old are mostly from Somalia or Mexican immigrant families. For two-hour sessions in the morning and afternoon, volunteers sit down with students doing reading and writing together.