What's New


  • Thank you to all of the CEP volunteers who participated in Read Across America Day on Dr. Seuss’s birthday! On March 1, many of our wonderful volunteers read books to students in East Oakland classrooms and shared their love of reading with them. 
  • 2012 was a great year for CEP! Click here to see our 2012 "Year in Review." We are proud of all we accomplished this year and excited about continuing to help homeless children learn and succeed in the coming year. 
  • In September, we launched the CEP blog, which includes stories, reports, and websites related to children, learning, homelessness and poverty, and others topics that may be of interest to our volunteers, website visitors, and donors. We've also added an Amazon.com wish list, which includes some of the school and tutoring supplies we need most. 
  • In August, Erica Mohan received a Jefferson Award for Public Service for her work with CEP. As part of the award, Erica was spotlighted on the CBS evening news, which is great publicity for CEP!  To view the CBS coverage of the award or to learn more about the Jefferson Awards for Public Service, click here. 

Tutors and Students in the Spotlight

Nathan Newsom

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Nathan Newsom is our current Volunteer in the Spotlight. Nathan has been working with his student, an 8th grader, since September 2012. When asked if she thought working with Nathan was helping her do better in school, his student replied “Yes, because my grades have improved and I understand the math concepts better, and I am more confident about the subject.” When asked if she feels that Nathan is a positive influence on her daughter’s life and a good role model, the student’s mother replied “Nathan and my daughter work well together. He is patient, caring, and brilliant. He is excellent at helping my daughter maintain a positive attitude about math and math’s overall benefit as a life skill.” Thank you, Nathan, for all you do! 

Ajai and Rachel

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Ajai and Rachel began working together during the summer of 2012 and have developed a great rapport. Rachel is helping Ajai learn the multiplication table up to 12 and master word problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Other activities Rachel and Ajai do together include reading and coloring.

Andre and his tutor Layla enjoying a sundae at Fenton's.

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Layla and Andre have been working together since September, 2011. Recently, Layla took Andre to Fenton's to celebrate the end of their goal period, capping seven weeks of great performance. During the goal period, Andre did all of his work and reached the goal he and Layla set together. Way to go Andre! 


Jovanni and his tutor Kristen. Here is what Kristen has to say about working with Jovanni:

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"I'm having a great time working with Jovanni.  He is very athletic, so we've incorporated play into our work.  We hide and seek letters to use to spell words, and identify the ones and tens places in the numbers we use for hide and go seek tag.  Jovanni is working on writing sentences that begin with capital letters and end with periods, and also on addition and subtraction.  He especially loves knowing that I tell his Mom when he has done a great job."


Older Stories

  • As reported in the Contra Costa Times, summer presents unique challenges for homeless students. Thus, we are actively looking for volunteers for the summer to take students on field trips, volunteer to read or do educational activities with the kids, or offer a workshop for the students at a shelter (painting, computers, cooking, etc). To read the full Contra Costa Times article, click here. 
  • During the month of June (and anytime you are in the mood for a delicious cupcake) head over to Republic of Cake in Orinda and purchase a "Sam's Very Messy Chocolate Cupcake." Ten percent (10%) of sales of Sam's cupcake will go to CEP! For more information, click here. Thank you Republic of Cake! 
  • On May 5, CEP turned 1! We are so excited about what we have accomplished in just one year and look forward to helping even more homeless students in the year ahead!
  • We are now working with students at five shelters in Oakland and Berkeley!
  • The Orinda Preschool (TOPS) organized a school supplies drive for CEP, which allowed us to make a large donation of stuffed backpacks to the children served by the Women's Daytime Drop-in Center in Berkeley. Thank you TOPS! 
  • CEP was selected to participate in World Book Night and, as a result, on April 23, we will be distributing free books to the students and families we serve. For more information about World Book Night, plese visit http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/. 
  • Thank you to the students of Ygnacio Valley High School for all of their donations of school supplies! We love when students help each other!