By: Ashmar Mandou
Pilsen resident Rolando Madrid believes his new venture is a one-stop shop for the average student to thrive academically. As Founder and Executive Director of Tutoria Latina Learning Center, Madrid believes his creation will offer a space conducive for success by providing students a stable space to study and bilingual tutors specializing in the areas of math and reading. “I have done research for many years and I have never seen a bilingual tutoring center in urban communities across the country,” said Madrid. “It doesn’t exist. So I knew we had something special that can help out our urban youth achieve their academic goals.”
Madrid, who has had experience with youth working with the YMCA Metropolitan of Chicago and community-based organization El Valor, discovered the importance of providing ‘high-quality bilingual tutoring,’ as he puts it, when several mothers at El Valor implored him for additional tutoring lessons for their children. “It was about twelve years ago and there were about 1,000 families coming into El Valor already for their after-school programs. I remember three mothers pinning me against the wall and asking for their children to be placed in the program,” said Madrid.
It was that experience that planted the seed for Tutoria Latina and in August of 2012, Madrid, with the help of private investors, was able to open up the 6,500 sq-foot location in Cicero, complete with individualized classrooms, computer lab, resource room, study hall, and teacher lab. According to Madrid, Tutoria Latina is unique in that students and parents will be able to communicate with bilingual staff, teachers, and coaches, offers small group or one-on-one tutoring, provides tutoring in Math, Reading, and Science, as well as conduct assessment testing and provides individual learning plans.
“The goal is to have students who come to Tutoria Latina raise their grades at school,” said Madrid. “We offer pretty much everything here. We make sure to contact teachers on a daily basis; we make sure to eliminate the language barrier in the classrooms that hinder the progress of students.”
Currently, Tutoria Latina helps 70 students and still has plenty of room to expand its services to more students. Madrid also guarantees working families will not have to worry about a high fee as Tutoria Latina charges $21 per hour for tutoring. “When I was doing my research and even through my own experience sending my daughter off to tutoring, I found it to be too expensive,” said Madrid. “So I make sure that parents are able send their kids to our tutoring center where for just $21 per hour they are getting an abundant amount of services and attention.” Tutoria Latina is located at 5342 W. Cermak Rd., in Cicero. If you would like to learn more about Tutoria Latina Learning Center, visit www.tutorialatina.com.
