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'School On Wheels' Founder to Be Honored With 'Most Prestigious Award Given To Women'
Photo by Atwater Village Newbie via via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
In 1993, after reading a book about homelessness, LA-resident Agnes Stevenson started teaching kids in a park in Santa Monica. From this book she learned that hundreds of thousands of children in the US do not attend school due to homelessness. And School on Wheels was born.
The organization, which provides one-on-one tutoring to homeless children from Costa Mesa up to Santa Barbara, has grown to include 700 volunteers who donated 50,000 hours to tutor students, help them with homework and take them on field trips.
This Tuesday, at the 2009 Women's Conference, Stevenson will receive the Minerva Award, an award presented by First Lady Maria Schriver to "honor remarkable women who have created remarkable legacies." (Check out the LIVE webcast today and tomorrow).
In 2009, Stevenson was featured as one of LA Weekly's LA People 2009. They also celebrated as Khadijah Williams, a former student, went from "homeless to Harvard" and recently shared her story Oprah.
Visit School On Wheels to learn more about volunteer tutoring opportunities and events throughout the LA-area.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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