South Philadelphia is known for having a large immigrant and non-English speaking population. Naturally it is hard to live and adjust to life in a foreign land, especially when you have a difficult time speaking the language.

The South Philadelphia High School recognized that their students who were having trouble reading and writing English. To help allieviate problems the students were having trouble with assignments, South Philadelphia High School sought out funding from the Welcome Center of Pennsylvania to create a tutoring center and after school program aimed at helping non-English speaking students with school work and life adjustments. The Welcoming Center was able to provide the grant money to create Project Bridging Cultures, the onsite tutoring facility located in South Philadelphia high school.

Although the Welcome Center was able to provide funds, this type of project was difficult to start. Omaur, a mentor at PBC explained the length of time the program needed to get off the ground. “At first, we had to go out into the classroom and get teacher recommendations for students who they thought needed our help. Also this program is the first of its kind in the Philadelphia Public School System, teachers and students alike were not aware or were skeptical of the benefits of this program.” But once the mentors began to tutor students and both teachers and students could see the benefits, then more people became interested in the PBC program.

Originally, the program was meant to be just tutoring, but as the program began to flourish, the mentors realized their students needed help interacting and socializing with one another. “It is hard for a student who has a hard time speaking English to meet friends, especially if their family just moved into the country or area. We found that our program had to include ways to help introduce students to each other and initiate social gatherings” said Toni Thomas, a Spanish to English tutor. With that idea of introducing social gatherings the PBC mentors began setting up field trips to museums, colleges, the zoo and other fun outings. The most recent trips have been to Independence Hall and Liberty Bell, the Art Museum, UPenn archeology museum, all of which occur on teacher workshop days, half days for students. And other community services trips have been to Philabundance, Mana and cleaning up Fairmount Park. They set up games and group building projects during their after school hours to help students meet and connect with one another.

The mentors also realized the creativity of their group of students, and wanted to showcase their talents. They started an after school art and drama club and after meeting regularly would hold gallery nights and drama shows. Recently the art club has created a series of workshops to help students work on their own graphic novels. Once the students complete their projects, the Project Bridging Cultures tutors set up an art gallery or presentation to showcase the student work. The program also arranges speakers to come in and talk about different career paths, in fields or diciplines that the students would not think to enter into. Most recently they had a Phlebotomist come in to talk, as well as a manager from the hospitality industry.

There are workshops throughout the year to bring in a more diverse group of students. And because Project Bridging Cultures deals with a variety of students of different ethnicities, the turors feel that thes cultural workshops help the students understand themselve and each other a little better.
The success of these after school programs helped pave the way for other clubs. Now PBC has a science, math, music, and an English conversation club that is filled with native and non-native speaking students.
Project Bridging Cultures is not your regular after school tutoring program. Students can come in throughout their day to use the classroom resources, get help with projects and use the computers. The students will come in during their homeroom, activity period, lunch time and after school to get help from the mentors. It is estimated that between 60-80 students visit the classroom throughout the day, most of them regular visitors to the PBC classroom.

They have a paid staff of 6 mentors in the classroom. They are called mentors instead of tutors because they not only help students with homework but also set up other organized activities for the students to participate in. “We want the students to feel comfortable in this learning environment. If we treat the students as if they are being tutored they are less likely to come in for help,” said Toni.
The services that Project Bridging Cultures provides is available both during and after school for help with homework, projects and papers. They provide tutors who mentor students in English, Reading, Math, Science and Conversational English.

In addition to tutoring services, Project Bridging Cultures also helps with a number of other issues, some non-school related. The tutors and staff help the students apply to colleges and prep and apply for the SAT’s. They also provide help for finding jobs, applying for FAFSA and even help students fill out job applications. They assist students with resume questions and help studenst complete their senior projects that they need to graduate high school. And because the mentors realize that their students are possibly the only English speaking member of the family, they provide help with understanding bills, scheduling doctor’s appointments, applying for driving tests and any other questions the student has for adjusting to life in Philadelphia.

This project is the first of its kind in Philadelphia but hopefully with more exposure and success stories from students it will be recognized as a great solution to helping ESL students. Project Bridging Cultures is only offered in South Philadelphia High School. Unfortunately, because of the high cost for paid staff and the resources needed, it is unlikely for other projects like this to start up unless they are privately funded. Project Bridging Cultures expansion to other Philadelphia Public Schools would really benefit students in need. Kensington Capa is just one High School that could benefit from the expansion of Project Bridging Cultures due to the high number of Latinos enrolled in the school. Yet until resources, volunteers and money is found to expand the program, Project Bridging Cultures will continue to provide a positive learning environment for international, non-English speaking, and native students alike at South Philadelphia High School.

Unfortunately, Project Bridging Cultures was cut by the Welcome Center of Pennsylvania  due to the lack of funding for the project in early 2011.