Work Study Student Program
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Program History

CLMER identified a lack of sufficient and meaningful work study opportunities for students who qualified for Work Study awards as part of their financial aid package. To meet this need, CLMER has created opportunities to connect the multilingual/multicultural skills of CSULB work study students with an unmet need in the local school districts for class room assistance by people who possess these skills. We believe that providing meaningful work study placements and mentoring could help to encourage at-risk college students to stay in school and accomplish their educational goals.

The CLMER Work Study Student Tutor/Mentoring Program was initiated in the Fall of 1994. The goal of the program is three-fold:

(1) to utilize the skills and assistance of CSULB students who qualify for Federal Work Study awards to further the mission of CLMER;

(2) to provide meaningful work experience for CSULB students which recognizes and utilizes their multilingual/multicultural skills, provides opportunities for on-the-job training in workplace skills; motivates and encourages the pursuit of their higher educational goals; and enhances their self-esteem regarding their abilities and potential for career success; and

(3) to provide area elementary and secondary schools with access to university student role models who can in turn mentor k-12 students.

CLMER provides training for potential employment outside of the university and opportunities to build on skills which the students might already possess but not recognize, such as students with bilingual and multilingual language skills.

What Our Work Study Students Do

Most of CLMER's work study students work as tutors and mentors in local schools, providing classroom assistance to students-many of whom are English Learners. Currently, we have a team of students working at these schools in Long Beach Unified School District:

Edison Elementary School

• Kettering Elementary
• Patrick Henry Elementary
• Hamilton Middle School
• Rogers Middle School
• New City School
• Tincher Preparatory School

Another team of students provides valuable assistance to the CLMER professional staff in our main office, often utilizing the many skills and talents they already bring-web and technical support, translation, creation of brochures and flyers for CLMER events and services, etc.