Minimum wage increase causes program struggle

The Laney Tutoring Center is facing a financial crisis trying to find additional funding to keep up with the change in Oakland’s minimum wage increase. The center currently employs two students each hour, and one to two staff employees to monitor and provide services. (See center website at end of this article for specific hours and subjects for which tutoring is offered.)
Collectively the Laney campus has four tutoring locations: the math lab located in the G building, room G291; the writing center, located in B building room 261 (including supplemental instructions in ESL); and the Tutoring Resource Center, in the Student Center room 300, which offers tutoring services in biology, chemistry, Chinese, French, Japanese, physics, and Spanish.
The funding previously received under Measure A approved by Governor Brown is not sustainable to the current needs and increase in minimum wage, says Jackie Graves, Tutoring coordinator. 
Graves goes on to say, “Although we try to sufficiently staff the tutoring center with adequate equipment, resources and information, there is no line items on the budget or steady stream of funding.
“Students have various ways of learning,” Graves said. “We have in place a mechanism to tutoring reflecting the population and reinforcing students’ success. Our challenge is finding consistent funding and then dealing with our staffing issues. 
“There is not enough funding to access equity for students, which is a required by the state of California supporting higher learning at community colleges,” Graves said.
Francisco Chavez, a student majoring in mechanical engineering, has had a good experience in the math lab; it’s quiet, and a good place for him to concentrate. Chavez would like to see more tutors with a high aptitude in calculus. 
Another student who can appreciate the benefits of the tutoring lab is David Wong, a Computer Science major. Wong was assisted by a tutor, and spent more than 30 minutes with him, while figuring difficult math solutions. He was grateful for the tutor’s patience. Wong also noticed that the computer equipment was out dated and the lab had pieces of broken equipment that needs repair. 
For more information, contact Graves at jgraves(at)peralta.edu or go to the center website: www.laney.edu/wp/tutoring/tutoring-resource-center/