At the very heart of CIS is our commitment to bringing responsible, caring adults into the lives of children.
Volunteers help our students to stay in school and achieve in life by providing supportive relationships for students during the school day through a variety of roles.
Social Capital Investor
Exchange your social capital by opening your network to a student(s) to share resources and opportunities supporting their post-secondary education and career options. Ways you can contribute include helping a student hone their interview and professional communication skills or learn about possible jobs at a career fair; providing job shadows or paid summer internships; or mentoring them during their senior exit project or college application process. Learn more about Social Capital.
Success Coach
Support elementary and middle school students by honing their goal setting, problem solving and decision-making skills. Preferred time commitment is weekly with a minimum expectation of two visits a month. Prerequisite: Coaches are required to attend an interactive three hour training that equips volunteers with resources and activities to be better prepared to work with their students. View this page for more information and upcoming training dates! Please Note: Individual volunteer placements for Success Coaches are made from September through the end of April each school year.
On-Call Volunteer
From time to time we have things come up at school sites or in the downtown Central Office where we could use volunteer help. We send an email (generally about once a quarter) asking for volunteers for these one-time activities. Examples include:
- Field Trip Chaperones
- Career Coach
- Event Specialist
- Administrative Projects
- Uniform/School Supply Sorting
- School Testing Proctors
For more information about volunteering with CIS, please see the “FAQ” below and complete this brief Volunteer Interest Form. If you have additional questions, please contact our Volunteer Associate at 704-943-9536 or volunteer@cischarlotte.org.
Companies/Groups
If you are with a company, faith community, or a civic/community group and would like to learn how your group can support CIS and the students and schools we serve, please contact our Volunteer Associate at 704-943-9536 or volunteer@cischarlotte.org. If you would like to share our volunteer opportunities with your company/group, you are welcome to download our Volunteer Opportunities Information Card.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fill out our Volunteer Interest Form or contact the Volunteer Coordinator at 704-943-9536 or volunteer@cischarlotte.org.
Contact our Volunteer Coordinator at 704-943-9536 or volunteer@cischarlotte.org, or you may complete our Volunteer Interest Form and someone from our office will contact you.
Mentors/School Buddies, Academic Coaches, and School Aides are asked to commit to one school year. There are no required commitments for Career Coaches and Event Specialists.
Mentors/School Buddies and Academic Coaches will be asked to meet with their students a minimum of once every other week to once a week. Depending on the program, these sessions will last thirty minutes to two hours. For School Aides, Career Coaches, and Event Specialists, the frequency will depend on the activity and your availability.
The majority of the positions require volunteers to be 18 years old. However, we love having younger volunteers in youth groups and organizations help us with events and one-time activities.
Because we work in the schools, most of our opportunities take place during school hours. Depending on the site, school hours are between 7:15 a.m. and 3:45 p.m.