Youth Services

Starting or catching up in school can be a nearly insurmountable hurdle especially for refugee teens who sometimes arrive in St. Louis with little or no prior schooling. We help young immigrants improve their school performance through after-school tutoring and other support.

We help immigrant teens improve their academic performance, enhance job readiness and broaden their awareness of future options. We focus on homework support and job readiness. Additional activities such as driver’s education, financial literacy, healthy relationship training and recreation are made available periodically, and broaden their options. Summer and part-time employment options are also available from time to time.
Registration hours: Monday – Friday, 10 am – 6 pm.

Our goal is to enable limited English speaking immigrant teens to graduate from high school and enter college. By identifying and preparing for the future, these teens can avoid finding themselves in dead-end jobs.

Last year, almost 250 immigrant students participate, and 92% of our teens graduated from high school.

Who is eligible? Eligibility is restricted to 14 - 18 year old refugees and immigrants currently enrolled in middle or high school.

Services are free to qualified immigrant teens. They are underwritten by a variety of public and private sources.

What our participants say:

“When I first came to St. Louis , my cousin told me that if you have trouble with your homework, go to the tutoring program at the International Institute.” (Student from Somalia )

“When I started attending the program, I was able to practice speaking English. No one made fun of my English even if I said things the wrong way sometimes.” (Student from Afghanistan )

“I learned a lot and was able to earn money in the job I got through the program.” (Student from Afghanistan )

“I had a lot of fun. I learned math and how to read and write. Now I am in college.” (Student from Sierra Leone )

Contact Information
About the after-school tutoring program: Anita Barker(barker@iistl.org) ext 107
To volunteer to become a tutor: Sarah Bekemeyer (bekemeyer@iistl.org) ext 161