Dozens of Boston-area children who enjoy weekly tutoring by Harvard undergraduates are receiving less personal attention than in past years—their one-on-one study sessions turning, at times, into one-on-four affairs.

Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA), Harvard’s community service organization, which runs more than 20 tutoring programs, has experienced a sharp decline in participation this year. Its officers attribute this drop to decreased first-year volunteerism, as freshman often constitute a large part of PBHA’s membership.

PBHA President Laura E. Clancy ’02-’03 has said that only 25 first-years attended the Freshman Day of Service—down from 300 last year. She also said that 250 fewer first-years were volunteering this year than PBHA had expected.

Neither PBHA members nor College administrators have been able to definitively explain the decline, but PBHA Community Outreach Officer Lindsay N. Hyde ’04 said that because tutoring programs require large numbers of volunteers, they naturally are hit hard by such a decline in overall membership.

Tutoring Troubles

While some PBHA program directors say their groups have maintained a steady membership, others describe the difficulty of finding tutors for all interested elementary and secondary school students.

Erin C. Nolan ’03, personnel director for the Mission Hill After School Program, says the program has altered its tutoring arrangements as a result of a volunteer shortage.

She says that, ideally, every child in the program receives one-on-one tutoring with a Harvard student. But this year, two, three and even four children are sometimes grouped with a single tutor.

“It’s really hard with 45 kids in the program to have enough volunteers,” Nolan says. “We have these days when there are huge gaps. We’ve had horrible Tuesdays and Thursdays when only 20 volunteers have been there for 45 kids—and that includes the directors who are coordinating things and can’t help out.”

Similarly, Keylatch Mentors has had to resort to group tutoring, according to director Ari M. Shaw ’04.

Shaw says that the group, which tutors in Boston’s South End, works with about 20 children per day but has only 10 to 12 volunteers per day—down from 20 last year.

“We only have one new freshmen this year,” Shaw says. “So we’re going to have to help [future program directors recruit] freshmen, or it’s really going to be difficult next fall.”

Future Recruiting

Franklin Afterschool Enrichment director Kristin M. Garcia ’05 says that her program is continuing to accept new tutors even though in past years they have cut off new recruiting after classes begin.

“We’re in the fourth week, but we’ll still take anyone,” she says. “Instead of trying to recruit freshmen, though, we’re building partnerships with other groups. We’re working with BMF [Black Men’s Forum] and some of their guys are helping us out.”

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.