About us

We are a student-founded organization in San Diego County. Most of what we do is match adults learning English with someone to talk to.

We match adults who are learning English with a volunteer partner, an hour a week, free. We also teach school students where fear of outsiders comes from. The first is most of what we do.

Our team

Two high school founders, a growing group of trained volunteers who work as conversation partners, and student volunteers who help with classroom visits. Everyone is trained before they sit down with anyone.

Meet the team

Our story

This started with people in our own families who understood plenty of English but went quiet on the phone. It took us longer than it should have to do anything about it.

Read our story

Our mission

Fewer people in this county treated as though they do not belong. Mostly that means conversation practice for adults. It also means lessons in schools, which is the smaller side of what we do.

See the programs

How this started

This began with people in our own families. They understood plenty of English — enough to read a letter, enough to follow most of a conversation — and still went quiet the moment they had to say something out loud to a stranger. What they were short of was not vocabulary. It was an unhurried hour with somebody who would wait through a sentence instead of finishing it for them.

So that is what we set up. One hour a week, the same partner each time, free, no test at the door. It is a small idea and it is not complicated, which is probably why it works.

We also visit schools. That started separately, out of the way students at our own school talked about classmates who had arrived recently — usually not cruelly, usually just carelessly, and almost always with nobody stopping to correct it. It is a real program and we care about it. It is also the smaller half, and we would rather say so than pretend the two are the same size.

Where we are now

We are early. We are training volunteers, running sessions, and looking for businesses and libraries willing to lend a room and a regular hour. We would rather tell you plainly what we have built so far than decorate this page with numbers we cannot stand behind.

If you want to know exactly where things stand before you work with us, ask. We will tell you.

A note from the founders

When we started talking about this, the thing we kept coming back to was how ordinary the problem is. Nobody sets out to make a person feel like an outsider. It happens in small ways, in the space where nobody has ever said anything better.

A standing Tuesday hour changes how someone feels about answering the phone at work. We have seen that much. How long it lasts, and whether it holds once we stop, we honestly do not know yet.

If you have an hour a week, or a room we could use, we would like to hear from you.

[Founder Name], Co-founder

What do we believe?

No jargon

Not in a session, not on this site. If a sentence needs a glossary, it needs rewriting.

We do not tell anyone's story without asking first

The people we work with are neighbors and partners, not material. We ask, we show them the words, and we take out anything they want taken out.

Shaming a classroom does not work

Lessons that make thirteen-year-olds feel accused change nothing. We say what xenophobia is and where it comes from, then trust them to do the thinking.

Turning up every week beats one big event

The same partner on the same evening is most of the program. Consistency is the part people actually feel.

We never ask about immigration status

Not on a form, not in a room, not ever. It has nothing to do with practicing English.

The programs in detail

Conversation partners

Who it’s for
Adults across San Diego County who want to practice speaking English. All levels are welcome.
What happens
We match each person with a volunteer conversation partner and a regular time — usually an hour a week at a workplace, library, or community room. Sessions are conversation, not instruction: ordering food, a phone call with a landlord, a conversation with a child's teacher. We check in after the first month.
What a partner provides
A business partner provides a room and a predictable hour. That is the whole ask.

Classroom education (our smaller program)

Who it’s for
Elementary, middle, and high school classes in San Diego County.
What happens
A trained presenter leads a single class period on where fear of outsiders comes from, how it shows up in everyday language, and what it costs a community. The lesson is built around discussion, not lecture. Teachers get the plan in advance and a short discussion guide to use the following week.
What a partner provides
A class period, a room, and a teacher in it. We bring the plan, the materials, and the presenters.

We are building partnerships with schools, libraries, and employers across the county. If you are considering working with us and want to talk to someone before you commit to anything, write to us.

Who are we?

[Founder Name]

Co-founder — conversation partners

Write two or three sentences here: what this person does for the organization, and one thing that makes them a person rather than a title.

[Founder Name]

Co-founder — schools and volunteers

Write two or three sentences here: what this person does for the organization, and one thing that makes them a person rather than a title.

Want to be part of it?

See the ways to get involved