The exact page text, read by your browser's voice.
1989 — Don Wolf's second foundation
Founding: Study Connection was founded in 1989 by Don Wolf, the retired chief executive of Do it Best Corp. — the same man who had founded Big Brothers of Greater Fort Wayne seventeen years earlier (see that entry). Piloted for three years inside Fort Wayne Community Schools and then institutionalized, the program matches adult volunteer tutors one-to-one with FWCS students, meeting weekly for an hour across the school year to build academic skill and a mentoring bond at once.
Course: An estimated 10,000 students passed through the program in its first two decades, with about 1,000 volunteer tutors a year, and the model was replicated in other cities — in Clinton, Iowa it was named the Governor's Volunteer Program of the Year for 2000. FWCS celebrated the program's 36th year in August 2024.
Sources:
- Fort Wayne Community Schools, Study Connection — the 1989 founding by Don Wolf, the three-year pilot, the one-to-one model, the 36th-year observance in August 2024.
- LBM Journal, obituary of Don Wolf (September 2019) — Study Connection founded 1989; about 1,000 tutors a year; the Clinton, Iowa replication and its 2000 honor.