The Massachusetts-based nonprofit, TriTogether, is expanding its efforts to provide free online tutoring to children, teens, and young adults who are part of the foster care system. With the majority of TriTogether’s active students located in Plymouth County, the organization knows that there are more students out there who could benefit from its support.
TriTogether was founded by Hannah Sieber, a lifelong Massachusetts resident, after she noticed gaps in educational equity faced by youth in foster care. Some of these students do not have the resources or ability to access an education that aligns with their unique circumstances. TriTogether addresses these gaps by offering free, personalized online tutoring designed to meet each student where they are. Recently, the organization expanded its mission to also serve students adopted out of foster care or in kinship care after working with other local organizations and noticing the shared history of interruptions in education faced by these groups.
As of mid-September, TriTogether has doubled its number of active tutor-student matches from one year ago. Since then, the organization has also recruited five times the number of tutors who are trained and ready to be paired with a student. TriTogether is currently supporting the widest age range it's ever had, helping students from six to twenty-two years old. In the past, most TriTogether students were in high school, but this year the majority are either in elementary or middle school, with reading and writing as the most requested subject focus.
TriTogether hopes to stick to its values of community, equity, and education as it grows. “We don’t want to become this overwhelmingly big organization because part of what makes us special is that we are a community,” says Hannah.
While tutoring remains its core focus, TriTogether knows that it can do more to improve equity and access to education. One way it extends its impact is by organizing educational opportunities for the broader community, including a free online speaker series open to all, called LearnTogether, in which an expert shares about a topic related to education or equity. TriTogether is also actively building relationships with local organizations and businesses—both as sponsors and partners—to further its impact. Notably, all of TriTogether’s Plymouth County students were referred by Cape Cod Foster Closet, an organization that provides material goods to support foster and kinship families.
If you know a potential student who would benefit from educational support, are interested in applying to be a volunteer tutor, or are interested in attending the next LearnTogether session, please visit their website (www.tritogether.org) or contact Hannah (hannah@tritogether.org).