The Oaxaca Learning Center helps underserved Oaxacan youth transform their lives and communities.
The Oaxaca Learning Center is essential.
Because we understand of the root causes of school dropout rates result from: cycle of violence and poverty. We were inspired to provide an Integral Training Program. Workshops that range in subject matter from study skills to stress reduction, active coaching and mentoring are included in addition to tutoring. 
100% of our staff share a background similar to our students. Their understanding of our students’ experiences helps them to develop programs to gain students’ confidence and to serve their specific needs. The result is a distinctive, student-centered approach. The Center's aim is to help students realize their personal and leadership potential, increase their academic skills, and support them in finding the path they want to follow. 
TOLC HISTORY
The Learning Center’s program has three components:
SKILLS
Oaxaca is well behind the rest of Mexico in graduation rates and academic success. The Center offers mentoring and tutoring in math, physics, chemistry, and English language along, with workshops in many other subjects. At the end of the Integrated Training Program, students improve their performance in school by 30% - 40%.
SELF-CONFIDENCE
Many young people from low-income families in Oaxaca believe their life options are very limited. The Center supports the students in discovering that they can achieve more than they ever imagined.
LEADERSHIP
The Center encourages the students to be involved in their communities and be active agents for change. Students are encouraged to challenge oppressive gender roles, to discourage violence against women, and to support opportunities for others.
Friends of the Oaxaca Learning Center (FOLC) Board Members
FOLC is a US-based non-profit. The role of its volunteer Board is to raise funds and other support for the Oaxaca Learning Center
and to work strategically to determine how best to support it.Meet the Directors
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Robert Anyon
President
Bob first came to Oaxaca in 2001 and has been coming regularly ever since. In 2003 he met Gary Titus and started working with the emerging Learning Center. He believes strongly in the holistic approach to supporting youth and giving them the tools to realize their own future.
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Jaasiel Quero
Jaasiel is President of the El Centro de Aprendizaje, which he founded alongside Gary Titus. A former schoolteacher himself, -he had firsthand knowledge of the limitations of the public school system and how it was failing poor students. He worked with Gary to devise a curriculum to address those shortcomings.
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Viviana Ruíz
Viviana brings a wealth of experience in non-profits, most recently as Managing Director of Mexican non-profit, Fundación En Vía. She is now focusing on her original profession of architecture, bringing her passion for community into her vision of how buildings can work. She believes young people should be seen from their strengths.
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Mark Jacobs
Mark and his wife first visited Oaxaca in 1997 and fell in love with the city. For years they have volunteered at the Oaxaca Learning Center and knew its founder, Gary Titus. Mark is honored to participate in Gary’s amazing legacy. Mark is a native Californian, and a retired teacher who taught English as a Second Language to mostly Mexican immigrants for twenty years. He loved teaching. TOLC allows him to combine that passion with his love of Oaxaca. He is grateful for the opportunity.
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Carol Estes
Carol retired from a career as a lifelong educator in both corporate and public education. She moved to Oaxaca in 2014 and considers it home. Carol believes all youth benefit from the “anchor” and support provided by The Oaxaca Learning Center as they navigate the rough waters of “what next” and “how?” Gary Titus’s vision supports young people in creative, compassionate, and practical ways that improve opportunities and lives. Serving TOLC and the youth of Oaxaca is a fine privilege.
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Ashley Dittmar
Ashley is a development professional who has spent 15 years raising critical funds for various nonprofit organizations. She learned about the Oaxaca Learning Center when exploring organizations to volunteer during a 5 week work sabbatical in 2023 and was inspired by the program and people involved. Ashley is passionate about access to higher education and supporting youth to achieve their educational goals. She is thrilled to bring her non-profit expertise to support FOLC as a member of the board.