It was 1976, and Ms. Mann was touring senior centers here at the request of a pastor who had heard her speak at a seminar. Ms. Mann, then a researcher at the University of Missouri-St. She decided to do something about it. In 1982, she started the Oasis program.
Seniors also volunteer to help run the program and tutor children.
Oasis began as a two-year experiment in St. Louis. It worked, so Ms. Mann replicated the program in Baltimore, Cleveland and Los Angeles. Oasis now operates in 26 cities and expands into two or three more each year. She had originally planned to launch the program and then get back into education research. But she realized that Oasis needed a permanent force.