Mentors who text back when school gets hard.

Spark Trail Youth pairs middle and high school students with mentors who live in the same flatlands neighborhoods and meet twice a month for homework, transit training and paid summer internships. We run a makerspace with 3D printers, a bike repair co-op and a Friday college essay lab staffed by Cal State East Bay writing tutors. Families receive grocery cards when students attend four sessions in a row, and our crisis line connects to on-call counselors who speak English, Spanish and Cantonese. Every mentor passes a background check and attends anti-bias training before their first match.