But other program directors, like Mai A. Huynh ’03, director of Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment, say they are concerned about first-years’ lack of interest in tutoring—a problem they say requires a long-term solution.

“Fortunately, this year about 50 percent of our volunteers are returning, but next year it’s going to be really tough, because so many of our volunteers are graduating,” Huynh says. “We rely on first-years to maintain leadership in the group.”

According to Hyde, PBHA officers recently have discussed planning a spring recruiting push, designed to snare first-years who were not ready to commit themselves to service projects in the fall.

Tsang says this effort will materialize at PBHA’s next officers’ meeting.

“We’re not too sure what we’re going to do about this,” Tsang says. “We’ve only heard about this informally, but we’re going to be meeting in the next few weeks to discuss this.”

Individual programs are also attempting to tackle the recruitment problem.

The Afterschool program directors held a meeting earlier this month to discuss future recruiting efforts, Nolan says.

“Our major coordinated effort is the PBHA open house, and with 82 programs it’s overwhelming,” she says. “We’ve thought about doing a fact sheet with the individual groups and what makes them unique. We want it to be more user-friendly.”

Nolan also says that, because postering and door-dropping failed to produce sufficient membership for her Mission Hill group this year, she is considering new first-year recruitment strategies.

“We door-dropped, postered, and even knocked on freshmen doors. But considering the time we spent, we didn’t get the numbers we should have,” Nolan says. “Maybe when we recruit in the spring and especially next fall, we want to work with prefects and proctors to get first-years involved.”

But some program directors expressed reluctance to engage in such aggressive recruiting practices.

“There’s definitely a trade-off with that kind of recruiting,” Huynh says. “People who come because they’re interested generally stick with the program. It’s strange to actively recruit, because those people may not really care about our mission.”

Huynh says her group will seek another strategy for attracting tutors.

Tsang says PBHA officers will spend the next year recruiting for its existing programs and will not add any new ones in the meantime

—Staff writer Katherine M. Dimengo can be reached at dimengo@fas.harvard.edu.