Volunteer In Metro Public Schools

When you volunteer your time in Metro Nashville Public Schools, you have a chance to directly impact the lives of the young people you meet.

General Volunteerism

To learn about general volunteer opportunities in Metro Public Schools, visit schoolvolunteers.org or onenashville.org

Impact Nashville Literacy Initiative

One of the priority areas of Nashville’s Service Plan, Impact Nashville, is asking volunteers to help improve elementary and middle school students’ reading scores in our city’s highest-need schools. Volunteers are needed to tutor/mentor select elementary and middle school students during the schoolvolunteers.org, select "School Opportunities" then click "Impact Nashville" under "Initiatives". Select an opportunity. school day in the MNPSReading Clinics by visiting

Metro Employees

Mayor Dean’s Metropolitan Government Employee Volunteer in Schools Program is an opportunity for Metro employees to volunteer in our public schools.On February 3, 2010, Mayor Karl Dean signed an Executive Order formalizing a new program that will allow Metro employees to volunteer in Nashville Public Schools during the work week.

The Executive Order specifies that Metro employees can receive up to 2 hours of paid administrative leave every week for their participation in the program - 1 hour to volunteer and additional time up to an hour for travel to and from the school. The program is intended to generate more hands-on community support in schools by making it easier for thousands of Metro employees to volunteer their time.

Below are three opportunities for Metro employees to volunteer in Metro Public Schools

Opportunity 1: General volunteerism in any Metro Nashville Public School.

Give your time and passion in various projects identified by principals and teachers throughout the school district. Find projects and register at SchoolVolunteers.org. When completing the sign-up form, select “Metropolitan Government” as Employer. You will then receive a free background check, and a volunteer coordinator will contact you to schedule training and volunteer time(s) and location(s). Remember to log your volunteer hours after each volunteer session at SchoolVolunteers.org. When logging the actual time you spend volunteering, select Metropolitan Government as Employer, but also select the specific department from the drop-down list of Groups.

Opportunity 2: Impact Nashville initiative with MNPS Reading Clinics.

The MNPS Reading Clinics provide intensive, one-on-one tutoring using instructional strategies proven by researchers to promote reading gain. School based reading clinics serve students who are performing two or more reading levels below their peers.If you are interested in volunteering, follow these easy steps:

a. Find the Impact Nashville projects at SchoolVolunteers.org and click “Initiative” under “School Opportunities”. Then select a Reading Clinic School from the list provided.

b. A Pencil staff member will arrange for a free background check. Then, a Reading Clinic staff member will schedule volunteer training and work with you on the best time for you to volunteer.

c. You will then be scheduled and paired with a student(s) to tutor one or two times a week for 30 minutes.

Opportunity 3: Sign up to be a mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters school-based mentoring program.

School-based volunteers meet 1 hour a week with a child at his or her school.Whether they play games shoot baskets, work on school assignments, eat lunch together or just sit and talk, both the volunteer and the child enjoy and benefit from their time together. Depending on the school selected by the volunteer, they will meet for one hour a week sometime during the mid-day hours (over a lunch hour, for example) or before or after work. To sign up to volunteer for one of these projects, visit www.mentorakid.org.