Volunteering

Serve and Inspire with Somerville Public Schools!

Welcome to Somerville Public Schools and thank you for your interest in volunteering! Why Volunteer? Volunteers in schools leads to greater student achievement and self-confidence, better attendance, improved conversation skills and social relationships, and stronger community connections. As a volunteer with Somerville Public Schools, you will work with students, educators, parents and guardians, and community volunteers to enrich and expand student learning. Whether you have an hour a week or an hour a month, we'll work to match you with a rewarding volunteer experience.

Getting Started

NEW TO SOMERVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS? If able to serve regularly (at least one hour a week), please take a moment to self-register here and sign up for a Volunteer Orientation.

RETURN VOLUNTEERS: Thank you for sharing your time and talents in our schools! All volunteers should submit a CORI for the current school year and provide proof of full vaccination for COVID-19. SPS Parents/Guardians: CORIs may be submitted in person at your school's main office during school hours or via jcapuano@k12.somerville.ma.us by appointment. For information about MA CORI regulation and your CORI rights visit https://www.mass.gov/doc/cori-booklet/download.

Volunteers serving regularly should be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and follow district's current COVID-19 Safety Protocols. Acceptable proof of vaccination include: CDC vaccination card, photo of CDC vaccination card, or state vaccination record or digital vaccine passport (this varies by state). Community health measures continue to be monitored for evaluating screening, masking and social distancing protocols in schools. Please review the COVID-19 Daily Healthy Checklist before serving.

Thank you for reviewing this Guide for procedures and best practices for serving with Somerville Public Schools.

SERVE, ENGAGE, INSPIRE

Come learn with us! SPS actively works to empower and engage volunteers to connect with a school community in meaningful, rewarding ways. Reach out to SPS Volunteer Coordinator JCapuano@k12.somerville.ma.us to be matched with an educator, program, classroom, student or to learn more.

Multilingual Multicultural Learning Work with multilingual learners in a classroom or for 1:1 or small group conversation, activities, literacy or academic tutoring. Grades Pre-K through Grade 12. Spanish, Portuguese or Haitian Creole fluency or proficiency and multicultural competency and experience preferred.

Somerville High School
Volunteers serve in person or remotely offering tutoring in Mathematics, Sciences, Writing, Computer Sciences, or mentoring in College Preparation, STEM Career Speaking engagements, Robotics, Basic Needs Resourcing and more.
Volunteer serve in person for one hour or more guiding and supporting students in mathematics, biology, chemistry or other subject areas. Somerville High School: 8:30am-10:30am and 10:40am-12:40pm.

After School Homework, Tutoring, Enrichment Clubs
SPS offers a wide array of after school programming in elementary schools and high school. Volunteers can support STEAM activities, Music Mentoring, Homework Help, 1:1 and small group Tutoring, Arts, Athletics and more. A sampling is below. Pick your passion and let us know how you'd like to engage!

Homework Help/Tutoring 3pm-4pm (Grades 3-5) and 4pm-5pm (Grade 2), any day M-F. Clubs/activities from 3pm-5pm. Argenziano, East Somerville, West Somerville, Winter Hill and Healey Schools.
Language Builders Program Academics and hands-on activities, Grades 1-2, 2:45pm-3:45pm. East Somerville Community School. Spanish or Portuguese language fluency preferred, not required.
Soccer Without Borders After School Program working with middle grades English learners. Volunteers work with students 4pm-5pm for homework help and during small group instruction. Winter Hill Community Innovation School.

Enroot partners with Somerville High School offering mentoring, college and career planning and English language practice and activities for immigrant students. Enroot is currently accepting mentor applications for Fall 2022. As a volunteer mentor you will work with Enroot staff to assist students develop goals and build meaningful connections with their community. Commitment is one hour a week, October 2022 through June 2023 (Tues or Thurs evenings). Volunteer mentors who speak one (or more!) of the following languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Bengali or Amharic are especially welcomed. For more information contact Vania Loredo, Enroot Director of Volunteer and Community Engagement: vloredo@enrooteducation.org or see application here.

Engineers, Computer Programmers, We Want You! Somerville High School Robotics Team seeks mentors to assist with team-building activities and participate in FIRST Robotics, an international robotics competition. Volunteers with mechanical or electrical engineering, computer programming, business or project management experience welcomed. Time commitment is one or two afternoons/week (Thursdays 2:45pm-4:45pm) Sept-January, with larger need during competition season January-March 2023. Contact STEAM and Computer Science Teacher and Lead SHS Robotics Team Mentor Laura Peters: LPeters@k12.somerville.ma.us.

Therapy Dogs (and their Human Handlers) Wanted Since 2012 Somerville Public Schools has welcomed trained, certified therapy dog teams into classrooms and for individual counseling sessions. Interacting with therapy dog teams has shown to reduce anxiety, improve confidence and provide emotional benefits for students. Trained teams serve once weekly or bi-monthly with the same classroom or student(s) and are provided safe, quiet spaces to meet.

Therapy Dog Team Workshops Thinking about doing therapy dog work, volunteering in a school or service facility? This January in collaboration with SomerPromise and the SPS Volunteer Program, Dog B.O.N.E.S. of Massachusetts will offer three Sunday workshops (Jan 8, Jan 15, Jan 22) 9:00am-10:30am) at the Edgerly Education Center, 8 Bonair St., Somerville.
Sessions are designed to evaluate your dog's ability to maintain focus, respond to their hander(s), interact appropriately with other people and dogs and assess suitability for serving in a school environment. This is not an obedience class or training. Upon completion, fee reimbursement is provided for approved teams available to commit to 4 school visits. For more information contact JCapuano@k12.somerville.ma.us.

__________________________________

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERING

Come to the Table Meals, Connexion, 149 Broadway, Somerville
The Food Security Coalition’s Come to the Table Meal serves 100+ residents in East Somerville with a hot meal, fresh produce and groceries to take home. The meal is currently grab and go, served out of 149 Broadway (Connexion Church) every second and fourth Wednesday. Volunteers may serve during any of the follow shifts, help prepare the meal from 1:30-5:00pm; or help package/serve meal from 4:30-7:30pm. Available shifts: Wed 9/28, Wed Oct 12, Wed Oct 26, Wed Nov 9, Wed Nov 23, Wed Dec 14, Wed Dec 28.
Interested volunteers can contact Alissa Ebel, City of Somerville's Healthy Communities Coordinator aebel@somervillema.gov for more information or to sign up for a shift.

Somerville Family Learning Collaborate (SFLC) Liaison team partners with Food For Free to host free food markets at West Somerville Neighborhood, East Somerville and Winter Hill Schools, once monthly on first Tuesday of each month, any time 2:15pm-5pm. To volunteer contact SFLC WSNS Family and Community Liaison Lee-Anne King: LKing@k12.somerville.ma.us, Office Phone: 617-625-6600 x6451.

The Welcome Project The Welcome Project is a local nonprofit working to strengthen the collective power of immigrant youth, adults and families to shape community process, programs and decision-making around schools, programs, government and institutions. Remote, flexible scheduling as your time allows. For more information contact: Winki Chan (She/Her/Hers) winki@welcomeproject.org or call 617-623-6633.

Somerville Homeless Coalition Volunteer at Project SOUP, volunteer to cook a meal, attend or host an event, shop at Amazon Smile and select Somerville Homeless Coalition.

Groundwork Somerville Help grow and maintain hands-on outdoor learning opportunities in schools. Groundwork Somerville is looking for School Gardens Volunteers to help with watering, weeding, pruning, and more. For about an hour a week this Fall, get involved with one of eight Somerville Public School gardens (Argenziano, Capuano, East, Healey, Kennedy, West Somerville, Winter Hill). If interested in gardening and learning about the natural world, reach out to juliana@groundworksomerville.org or visit www.groundworksomerville.org to learn more!

MAMAS (Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville) is an entirely volunteer-led resource connecting community needs with community resources. Join a working group, help distribute resources or work toward redistributing resources.

Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) was founded in 1972 with a mission to protect and restore the Mystic River, its tributaries and watershed lands. MyRWA works to protect water quality, restore important habitat, build climate resilience, transform parks and paths, and inspire youth and community to protect and restore. Count Herring online, join river and parks cleanups, help remove aquatic invasives. Volunteer opportunities here.