Our work, in three lines.
Three Philadelphia neighborhoods. Twelve to nineteen. The same young people, year after year.
Small cohorts. Adult mentors who stay. Three-year arcs, not single sessions.
What we measure: who came back next year. Not impressions, not reach.
Four programs, run year-round.
After-school, summer, mentoring, college readiness. Each program runs on a three-year arc. Cohort sizes are small on purpose.
After-School
Homework, mentoring, dinner. Open Monday through Thursday from three to seven.
Full detailSummer Programs
Six weeks of full-day programming, July and August. Field trips, civics, paid internships for ages 16 and up.
Full detailMentoring
Volunteer mentors paired with one young person for a minimum of two years. Vetted, trained, supported.
Full detailCollege Readiness
Application coaching, FAFSA support, campus visits, alumni follow-up. Begins in junior year, continues through first college year.
Full detailMethod
Small cohorts. Mentors who stay. Three years, not three weeks.
Most youth programs run on cohort sizes too large to know each young person individually. Ours do not. After-school cohorts cap at twelve. Mentoring is one-to-one for a minimum of two years. Summer cohorts at twenty-four.
Mentors are volunteer Philadelphians, vetted and trained over a four-month onboarding. The matched pair commits to two years before the first conversation. The young person is not a project. The mentor is not a service.
The Alliance
Staff. Mentor. Participant.
Three voices. The same buildings. Different roles in the same work.
The young people don’t need our enthusiasm. They need us to show up at four o’clock on a Wednesday in February.
Renee Thompson Executive Director · South Philadelphia
Two years in, we stopped talking about basketball. We started talking about what he wants his life to look like at twenty-five.
Marcus Hill Volunteer mentor since 2022 · North Philadelphia
I came in seventh grade for the homework table. I’m here in twelfth because of the people who never moved on.
Jasmine Reyes Participant since 2020 · West Philadelphia
A moment from the work
An hour with a mentor at a wooden table.
Wednesday, four-fifteen. The South Philadelphia building is full. A volunteer mentor and a fourteen-year-old are working on a science project at the long oak table by the window. The mentor is a retired structural engineer. The fourteen-year-old has not done this kind of work before. They’re working in silence, occasionally talking. It’s not a service being delivered. It’s a Wednesday afternoon.
This is the unit of the work. Multiply it by eighty mentor pairs across three buildings, every week of the school year.
By the numbers.
Three ways to get involved.
Each pathway connects to a person. None of these begins with a form alone.
Donate
A donation runs the buildings. Eighty cents of every dollar goes to programs and staff. Our 990 is on the contact page.
Volunteer
Mentors commit to two years and a four-month onboarding. We accept fewer than half of the applications we receive. Read the brief before applying.
Partner
Foundations, corporate funders, and Philadelphia institutions. Site visits welcomed by appointment.
An afternoon at the building is the best introduction.
By appointment. Wednesdays and Thursdays, three to five. Renee or one of the program directors will walk you through the work as it happens.