On mission
local missions
What that looks like
- schools give space and time with students
- neighbors volunteer time
- businesses provide finances
- businesses provide volunteers
- churches provide volunteers
- churches provide finances
- churches provide finances
The collaborative efforts of Ypsilanti Community Schools, Washtenaw Literacy, and GROW U offer training and support for our volunteers.
Nutrition
Red Backpack is a weekend supplemental food program organized through the collaboration of The Salvation Army, Ypsilanti Community Schools, Ypsilanti Free Methodist Church, and Food Gatherers providing food for elementary school children.
GROW U supplements families’ nutritional needs throughout the school year by providing weekend Red Backpacks filled with nutritious supplemental food for Saturday and Sunday breakfast, lunch and dinner for four people. 180 families regularly receive Red Backpacks during the school year.
Education
GROW U helps increase the ability of English Language Learners to assimilate into our community by providing free ELL tutoring. We also offer tutoring in basic literacy skills in reading, writing, or math to English speaking adults who have children in the school system.
Life-Skills
GROW U helps parents & guardians become full partners in their children’s academic growth by promoting parent/guardian involvement in the schools. We equip families with relevant new or deeper skills, knowledge, and resources. This equipping helps them build relationships with other parents and with school staff, while also helping their child succeed in life.
Job Skills
According to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen
it is a lack of freedom to be able to make meaningful choices, to have an ability to affect one’s situation, that is the distinguishing feature of poverty.
Our goal & vision will utilize Work Life to do the following:
- Provide soft-job skill training and mentoring
- Develop social enterprise for direct job training
- Develop workplace partnerships


global mission
personal mission
FRANCES | Team Teach Haiti
Training continues! Jacquelin hosted a wonderful community reading session for a poor town outside of Dessalines. The teachers in this town took our training. Jacquelin told them about our Lekti (Storytime) program. They loved the idea! In collaboration with Jacquelin, they set a date and time. The teachers promoted the idea and brought the community together for this program. Adults and children enjoyed fun and laughter, then got about the business of reading. A book was projected on the big screen (a white bed sheet) and everyone could see the book as the student read. After she read the book a couple of times, the session ended with a community reading of the book. Imagine 50 villagers coming to gather to listen to stories, and then read a book! This a tremendous move in the direction of literacy.Virlande, our Leki (storytime) teacher, is so dedicated to helping children read, she often stays after Lekti has finished to work with some struggling readers.Team Teach Haiti hopes to host another movie time featuring the Jesus (film) for Children in Creole. Last time, we had over 150 children attend to watch this movie about Jesus.


