Have you noticed the small, freestanding wooden boxes in people’s front yards filled with books — including at least eight in Oak Park alone? They’re part of the Little Free Library system, and it has become a worldwide phenomenon. The Little Free Library movement started in 2009 in Hudson, Wis., when a man named Todd… Read More

Due to the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Chicago and Cook County, Cluster Tutoring will pivot to remote tutoring for the next few weeks. Executive Director Kara Kalnitz and the Cluster Tutoring Board decided that the safest approach was to postpone the return to one-to-one tutoring on all three nights. There will… Read More

This fall is the first time in 30 years that Cluster tutors and students haven’t met face-to-face. Yet 90 students are still participating in one-to-one remote learning with their tutors. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing is going according to plan for any of us. Yet since last spring’s lockdown, Cluster still has made progress:… Read More

After 29 years, Cluster Tutoring has a new home. As of the beginning of September, the Cluster office and Tuesday night tutoring space are now at 118 N. Central Ave. in Chicago. The new space is housed at Circle Urban Ministries, a nonprofit organization whose aim to to help disadvantaged residents in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood…. Read More

Starting in late September, Cluster Tutoring will be offered three evenings a week at three separate locations. And unlike the 2020-21 school year, tutoring will be in person at all three spaces. Cluster is adding a Monday night tutoring option at Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church in Oak Park. Fair Oaks, at 744 Fair Oaks Ave…. Read More

It wasn’t that many years ago that Danton Floyd was a student at Cluster Tutoring. Now, he is using his 10 years of experience as an educator, youth worker, and organizer to improve black neighborhoods on the West Side where he grew up. Danton founded an organization called 360 Nation. The group aims to serve… Read More