Our History

Boost! West Oakland, formerly known as Lafayette School Mentoring Project (LSMP), was founded in 1997 by Joan and Howard Poulter. The couple responded to the need for academic improvement in West Oakland schools and wanted to create a program that would encourage students to strive for excellence.

The project is funded by the West Oakland Children's Fund through support from the Tides Center, located in the Presidio of San Francisco. Through the generosity of our donors, the program offers one-on-one tutoring and enrichment programs to students in order to inspire them to take learning seriously and overcome the obstacles that keep many children from achieving academic success.

On December 15th, 2010 - after being LSMP for over 13 years, we announced our new name - Boost! West Oakland. Choosing a new name was a community-wide effort in collaboration with LSMP staff, tutors, and board members. A name change committee helped us select the new name and chose a name submitted by a tutor! We look forward to another 13 years and beyond serving the students of West Oakland as Boost!

Boost! Founders Howard and Joan Poulter with Boost! Alum Kurt Carr