OUR STORY
Established March 2020
RISE Philadelphia is a non-profit 501(c)(3) virtual tutoring program that was founded by a group of medical students across Philadelphia at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Millions of students across the world were forced to adapt to an uncertain in-home online curriculum and so graduate school students came together to provide one-on-one virtual tutoring sessions to support Philadelphia and South Jersey students’ transition to this new remote learning environment.
We believe this unprecedented time is having a long-lasting impact on our community, especially communities in Philadelphia and South Jersey where students prior to virtual learning had to navigate barriers to graduate high school and reach post-secondary education. We created a longitudinal program to provide free tutoring, mentoring, and companionship to K-12 Philadelphia and South Jersey students to help students achieve their goals of succeeding in the classroom, passing state-wide standardized tests, and graduating high school. Each student is paired with a local graduate student who provides academic assistance and supports the student’s individual graduation needs.
Our Trajectory
RISE Philly started as a pilot program in 2020-2021 with five K-12 schools in Philadelphia. This organization has since expanded to become a 501c3 nonprofit, helping students from over 15 K-12 schools in Philadelphia and South Jersey. We currently are an approved student organization at four medical schools and are continuing to expand to other medical schools and graduate school programs. Throughout this time we have also partnered with various other nonprofit organizations including Together for West Philadelphia, Bridging the Gap and Locke University to empower our community and provide student support.
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Our Partners
As a city-wide effort, undergraduate and graduate students from several institutions throughout the Greater Philadelphia and South Jersey Area have joined hands with us to provide online tutoring and mentoring services on a voluntary basis. We are also grateful to have support from educators in the School District of Philadelphia and South Jersey and community service advisors from several medical schools in our city. Our partners have played a vital role in guiding us during the development of this organization.
