Students in a group talking with a tutor or instructor

Education

We know that education empowers our community. In addition to Study Buddy, our youth tutoring program, we are expanding our reach with with two pilot projects: Little Neighbors for ages 0-5 and ESL Classes for adults 18+.

Study Buddy

Virtual tutoring and educational support for English language learners in middle and high school throughout the City of Pittsburgh.

Students and tutors in classroom

Since Study Buddy’s start in 2020, we’ve had over 165 students receive more than 3,000 hours of tutoring per semester.

Since 2020, Hello Neighbor has been supporting refugee and immigrant youth in school districts across Allegheny County to navigate the United States education system through personalized online one-on-one tutoring. Current students, recent graduates, and young professionals are matched with refugee and immigrant students in grades 6-12 to help them navigate remote learning, stay motivated to attend class and do their work, and empower them to build relationships with peers and school staff. Volunteer tutors help students with school work, provide subject-specific learning, set up tangible semester-specific goals, increase their confidence in the classroom, and develop their English language and interpersonal skills.

Each semester, the Study Buddy program welcomes guest speakers from local partners, provides students with training relevant to academic development, and in-person events aimed at team building.

The core commitment is by semester (Fall, Spring) and 1-3 virtual hours of tutoring per week.

Interested in becoming a tutor or a Study Buddy student?

Our Study Buddy program runs on an academic calendar, with Fall and Spring semesters. We are always accepting new tutor applications. However, most enrollments will be completed during the summer and winter breaks.

Toddler being held on woman's hip

Little Neighbors

Little Neighbors pilot program aims to provide educational system support and resources to refugee and immigrant families with children navigating the early learning and school process.

Little Neighbors connects families to early childhood education resources and helps them navigate the application and enrollment process, which can be a challenge for families who are new to the United States. We address a crucial need for our newest neighbors and their children, and it’s because of your continuous support that we are able to help families foster their children's development by helping them access resources and providing support for families who have experienced trauma.

10 families in the program have been connected to 7 community partners to learn about the resources available.

Language Access
Adult ESL (English As A Second Language)

Ensuring equal access to our services for all refugees and immigrants, regardless of English proficiency or native language. 

English as a Second Language class session

Language Justice is Social Justice.

Did you know that all agencies receiving federal funding are obligated to provide language access under the 1964 Civil Rights Act? Language access staff advocate for Hello Neighbor clients’ access to interpretation in medical appointments, police encounters, family-school communications, local government, and more.

Our new pilot provides ESL Classes to refugees upon arrival. English language is a critical skill for new neighbors learning to navigate life in Pittsburgh. Our ESL pilot offers 3 months of beginner English instruction to newly arrived refugees in Hello Neighbor’s resettlement program. Through these lessons, students learn to express their needs, ask and answer basic questions, and talk about their families, homes, health, and work.

Interested in Volunteering with our ESL Program?

Over 17 Languages Available

Our network of in-house interpreters ensure that all clients have full access to programs and services at Hello Neighbor. Interpreters are valuable members of our team, attending meetings with clients and staff and translating documents. We are committed to investing financially in communities we serve, aiming to hire interpreters who are themselves immigrants or refugees.

Languages spoken by our interpreters include:

  • Arabic (MSA, Syrian, and Sudanese dialects)
  • Azeri
  • Burmese
  • Dinka
  • French
  • Haitian Creole
  • Hindi
  • Kinyarwanda
  • Nepali
  • Pashto
  • Persian (Dari, Farsi)
  • Russian
  • Somali
  • Spanish
  • Swahili
  • Turkish
  • Ukrainian

Interested in working as an interpreter?