Tutoring: Rewards Add Up

Two years ago, Justin Miller was on the fast track to success, with a well-paying job in the corporate world.

Miller was an employee at Macy’s department store in Phoenix, but when Kris Erickson, a friend who at one time was also in the business world, suggested that Miller chuck his suit and tie and work as a coordinator for a nonprofit learning center, he realized he had found his calling.

“I just love kids,” Miller said. “They need someone to show them that they are cared for.”

Miller and Erickson work at the Novaland Learning Center in La Palma, a tutoring and mentoring center for youths ages 5 to 18.

For two years, the center, on the grounds of the Nova apartments at 7777 Valley View St., has helped students living in low- to middle-income apartment complexes with English, math and computer skills.

“It’s interesting to talk to kids who went through the program in the past and see how much they’ve developed as a result of both their hard work and the work of the staff,” Miller said.

Every day after school and during the summer, 60 or more children come to the center to take part in center activities and training designed to give them a boost toward scholastic excellence.

Novaland has 10 learning centers in apartment complexes throughout Southern California, Texas and Hawaii. Each center is funded mainly by the Nova Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Newport Beach.

A portion of the program’s funding comes from Steadfast Properties, also based in Newport Beach, and which owns all 10 complexes where the learning centers are located.

Besides daily programs and activities, each summer the foundation organizes weekend workshops designed to get youngsters to take a critical look at themselves and where they’re headed.

Next month 100 teenagers from the 10 centers will head to Camp Destiny in Big Bear, a three-day program where they will discuss topics such as the benefits of staying in school.

The La Palma location is the only one in Orange County, but the organization intends to open a new center in the county next year.

Erickson and Miller look forward to working with more students.

“I’ll bet I get more out of the program than the kids do,” said Erickson, the foundation’s regional director. “I get to see them get excited about learning, and you get so much love from the kids that words can’t describe how wonderful it feels.”

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Andre Briscoe can be reached at (714) 966-5848.