Friends of St. Lawrence - Watts Youth Center

What a special day! May you all feel the love of our Lord, and the blessings of His goodness today and forever!!

There are just 45 minutes left in our Online Silent Auction
Join us and bid on some fun items before it closes at 6

FRIENDS OF ST LAWRENCE-WATTS YOUTH CENTER - | BiddingForGood Bid on auction items in the FRIENDS OF ST LAWRENCE-WATTS YOUTH CENTER fundraising auction to help support this cause.

What happens when three volunteers from LMU’s financial aid department come to explain the new FAFSA format to some curious youth and their parents? A deeper understanding of the resources out there to help us afford the education we deserve…pure magic!

We have been at it for about a month now and are proud of how hard the students and tutors are working! There have been several days of 100% attendance too and we hope that that streak continues… Being present matters… in all aspects of life! Let’s keep up the hard work everyone!! ❤️

Yup! That’s 30 of Watts’ finest youth giving up their weekend to get ready to be leaders by mentoring and tutoring their younger counterparts. We couldn’t be more proud!!

It’s always a bittersweet moment at the end of the year when we say congratulations and goodbye to our tutors who are graduating high school and moving on to college. CSULA, UT Tyler, UCLA, UCI, Cal Poly Pomona, CSUDH, Cerritos College, CSULB, and El Camino will have some hard working and focused youth heading their way. Congratulations to our Tutor Friends. You did a wonderful job this year. We will miss you! Keep in touch! 🎓 ❤️

Someone knows the health benefits of celery!!

Love, light, and blessings to all these beautiful children of God on the day of their First Holy Communion. May they always recognize the peace of Jesus, the light of His love, and the joy of His life within themselves and others. 🙏 ✌

A new incentive of a getting to put your name into a drawing for a chance to win a prize has kickstarted a reading frenzy here at Friends Literacy Center! Thank you to our partners at who provided us with some awesome toys that have really motivated our students to reach their reading goals! Congratulations to this week’s winners… More prizes and LOTS more reading in weeks to come!

Celebrating 1,000,000 words read!! These super readers are on the road to success! Reading daily helps students think critically and improves reading comprehension skills, which is beneficial in every subject area. However, the benefits of pleasure reading do not end in the classroom. Students take the skills they have honed through reading into adulthood and, in turn, into the workforce and society. 📚 📚 ⭐️📚

Community. That’s what FOSL is all about. We delight in a seeing the children enjoying each other’s company and forming new and life long friendships!
Children learn best when they are comfortable and having fun. The Literacy Center brings our young students together and in turn, strengthens their reading skills and our community.

We are thankful for our partnership with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank who brings in healthy meals for all Literacy and SLB after school programs. Nothing beats a full stomach…except for maybe a grateful heart ❤️ thank you

Our kids look forward to Literacy at the end of the school day! They’re excited to read and learn with their tutors. We love seeing their confidence grow and are so grateful they have a safe environment where they can discover the joy of reading.

Here at FOSL, our core belief is that education is the great equalizer…the lever against systemic barriers. We are privileged to partner with ._lawrence_brindisi_watts and local Catholic high schools to provide tuition assistance so children and youth can learn in a safe, empowering, and engaging educational environment. A big shout out to all our youth who are crushing it this year with their hard work in school!!!

We are family here at Friends Literacy Center…it’s a special place where kids feel comfortable and ready to learn. Our tutors create that environment for the kids every day and we’re always filled with joy to see it. We love and are proud of our kids and tutors and are grateful to partner with St. Lawrence of Brindisi School.

Literacy is a great way to help kids actively engage in learning and have fun at the same time. In Literacy, our tutors help each child succeed and grow academically. When we see Literacy’s impact on the students’ reading levels each year it makes every single book and word worthwhile. We love seeing our kids grow.

Big happy smiles when we’re at the Literacy Center. It’s great to see our kids grow in their education and give them the opportunity to further their learning outside the classroom. Always a blast to see them with working with their tutors. It’s one of our favorite times of the day.
opportunitiesoutsidetheclassroom

It’s a wrap on our first full week! Thankfully, many more to come!!! Good work everyone…let’s keep it going!

It’s good to be back!

The kids are alright! Friends Literacy Center’s 2022-23 tutors…a great team of dedicated youth…ready to go!

We are gearing up for the 2022-23 tutor training in the next couple weeks…making sure our Watts Youth are properly equipped to work with our students to meet each child’s individual needs. Over the years we have trained and hired hundreds of strong leaders….outstanding role models who grew up in the Watts community. They have the unique ability to connect with our young Literacy students, showing them that anything is possible when you work hard and believe in your own potential. We are proud of this growing community of Youth in Watts who continue to give back to their community even after leaving their positions as tutors at The Literacy Center

We already miss them!! Keep reading over the summer kiddos!!!

Our friend Beau came to share a passion of his… how to take a blank canvas and express yourself! Creativity mixed with having fun and getting to know one another better 🖌🎨👟🖼👏🏼 ☀️

Building strong reading habits in the Literacy Center… and some tall Jenga towers too!

Looking for a good read? Iggy recommends this one. The title really resonated with him. Thanks to all our friends for the book donations!!

Celebrating the tutors from Friends Literacy Center who graduated from high school this year. All will be going on to higher education: CSUF, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, CSULA, CSUN to name a few. We are so proud of all of you!! 🎓

It’s the little things that make our hearts sing… developing lifelong friendships, getting better at reading and understanding text, working one on one with someone who cares about your success, and just plain old having fun! We love our Literacy Family!! ✏📝

It’s all fun and games… including the time spent improving our reading! Literacy’s Summer Session is officially in full swing…tutor and student teams working toward their own personal goals

End of the year Top Reader award goes to….(drumroll 🥁) some really hard workers in the Friends Literacy Center this year!! What a great year it was!! Keep working toward your goals little friends!!