From after-school tutoring to beautifying city streets, serving the community is at
the forefront of Saint Louis University’s Micah program.
As a member of the Micah program, you will serve in neighborhoods surrounding our
campus in Midtown St. Louis. Micah students make a commitment to serve at a specific
Micah service site once a week for at least a full semester, contributing two-three
hours of service a week for a total of at least 30 hours of service per semester.
Small groups of students travel together using university vehicles to these service
sites. Students choose their service sites from those listed below based on their
interests and availability. The program also provides optional large group service
opportunities.
Micah students Maria Garcia, Matt Udani and Cielo Dela Rosa helping out a city neighborhood
on a service day.
Beyond School, through Mission St. Louis, is a faith-based program serving children in fourth through
eighth grades. You will have the opportunity to build close and productive relationships
with the children. The St. Louis Language Immersion School location and St. Louis
College Prep location both need volunteer mentors. Both schools are only five minutes
from campus.
Caroline Mission is a Missouri licensed and accredited early childhood education program facility
operated by Neighborhood Houses and supported by the United Way. You can help provide
quality affordable child care for children from six weeks to five years old as a volunteer.
The school is approximately five minutes from campus.
As a volunteer at City Garden Montessori School, you will work with primary and elementary school children in an after-school program.
The mission of City Garden Montessori is to provide a high-quality education to a
diverse student population and to raise young people who value and respect themselves,
others, the environment and the world. You will be asked to help prepare snacks, help
with arts and crafts, indoor and outdoor sports and games, and play table games while
students wait to be picked up. The school is approximately 10 minutes from campus.
As a volunteer, you will work with children birth to age six at the Cornerstone Center for Early Learning, which provides high-quality, affordable, comprehensive care and education for children
while following a constructivist philosophy that governs all aspects of operation.
As a nonprofit United Way agency, Cornerstone enables parents to enter or remain in
the workforce or to seek higher education. Cornerstone is approximately 10 minutes
from SLU's campus.
As a volunteer with Firm Foundation Tutoring Programs, you will offer one-on-one weekly tutoring with children in kindergarten through
high school. This faith-based organization is a part of Restore St. Louis and New
City Fellowship. At the south location, families of the current children being served
come from Burma, Liberia and Nepal. At the north location, the children served are
from north St. Louis neighborhoods where many of the schools have been closed. Both
Firm Foundation locations are approximately 15 minutes from SLU's campus.
As a volunteer in the Lewis Place neighborhood, you will tutor/mentor children in
kindergarten through eighth grade. The Housing Authority has provided a community
room in the neighborhood for those serving children and trying to restore a sense
of community. They have several programs for children, including an after-school program
where they focus on literacy and a youth program that focuses on community, leadership
and sports.
Located in a north St. Louis neighborhood, the Sisters provide after-school care,
a soup kitchen, a women's shelter and more for the community. As a volunteer, you
will help with the after-school program. The children, ages 4-12, get a safe space
to play, tutoring, snacks, prayer, guidance and dinner.
You will spend quality time with elderly and disabled adults as a volunteer in the
safe and caring environment of St. Elizabeth Adult Day Care. St. Elizabeth's is approximately five minutes from SLU's campus.
You will tutor and serve as an academic coach for kindergarten through second grades
as a volunteer at the Biome, an academic center. The center focuses on math, science, technology, writing and
engineering, but provides academic support in any area in which a child needs help.
The Biome is approximately five minutes from SLU's campus.
Group Service Projects
Throughout the academic year, Micah students have the option to volunteer in large
groups at annual events. Examples of these events include:
September: Alongside members of New City Fellowship (affiliated with Firm Foundations
Tutoring above), Micah students help renovate neighborhoods in distress.
October: Micah students throw a Halloween party for 250 children from the Shaw neighborhood.
February: The Micah program's Dollars for Diapers drive provides diapers for Caroline
Mission Childcare and Cornerstone Early Learning Center.
April: Helping with Operation Brightside and Showers of Service, Micah students work
alongside residents of the historic Shaw and Lewis Place inner city neighborhoods
to help beautify their streets and to prepare community gardens for the growing season.
