About Us
Founded in 1993 and based in Dallas, TX, IntelliChoice is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports a network of volunteers who provide free math tutoring to underprivileged children.
We believe that a solid understanding of mathematics is the key to professional success. This is especially important for children from minority, impoverished, immigrant, and refugee families. We seek to inspire them to achieve, and we support their quest to become accomplished professionals and role models for their communities.
Our children interact with devoted, accomplished tutors who are honor students at high schools and colleges, graduate students in STEM fields, professionals, and professors. IntelliChoice brings children, parents, and volunteers together to support academic excellence in a welcoming, caring community.
IntelliChoice offers four programs to support academic achievement:
♦ On-site tutoring by more than 800 tutors for roughly 1,200 children at more than 20 locations in Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, and Tennessee.
♦ Online math tutoring anywhere in the world, at any time, through the IntelliChoice.org website
♦ Summer SAT Prep Camp
♦ Scholarships to support our alumni when they matriculate at college
We seek to expand our capabilities and resources to serve as many students as possible in the US and around the world.
Our Mission and Values
Our mission is to support economically disadvantaged children to attain scholarly excellence through mathematics and education. We intend to develop in children an interest in mathematics to prepare them for college and successful careers in academia, business, and the professions.
We believe that a solid foundation in mathematics is the key to academic success. We have no doubt that educating children requires human interaction – not just books and computers.
Our History
The president/founder of Intellichoice, Inc., Prof. Gil Lee was on sabbatical at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC in 1991 while he was on faculty at Louisiana State University. One day he took a wrong exit on highway 295. There were many school age children on the street during school hour. Seeing all these children on the street instead of at school reminded him of his own struggle to escape poverty through education. He grew up in a poor neighborhood but was fortunate to be told that school and education were the way out. He told himself that these children needed that same motivation.
After he returned home to Louisiana from sabbatical, his wife (professor at Southern University and now at UT Dallas) and he started a math tutoring program for underprivileged children in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1993. They opened the Math School of Baton Rouge, a non-profit organization geared at targeting inner city youth. It started out as a program to tutor students who were having difficulties in math and other subjects.
After Prof. Lee has transferred to The University of Texas at Dallas, Intellichoice was formed in Dallas in 2004.
♦ Buchanan Elementary in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sessions were held from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday after school for grades two through five, with four classes three times a week.
♦ McKinley High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Interested students met in the library on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 pm to 4 pm.
Official Nonprofit Registration
♦ IntelliChoice, Inc. is registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in TX.
First Branch Opens
♦ First branch opens at the Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library (MLK Branch) in Dallas, TX.
♦ Harrington Branch opens at the Harrington Public Library in Plano, TX.
♦ Vietnamese Community Center opens in Garland, TX.
♦ Denton Branch opens at the Emily Fowler Public Library in Denton, TX.
♦ Skyline Branch opens at the Skyline Public Library in Dallas, TX.
♦ Carrollton Branch opens at the Promised Land Family of Faith in Carrollton, TX.
♦ Lewisville Branch opens at the Lewisville Public Library in Lewisville, TX.
♦ Preston Branch opens at Preston Highlands Baptist Church in Dallas, TX.
♦ Shonto Branch opens at Nazarene Church in Shonto , AZ (First expansion outside of Texas serving Navajo Native American Reservation).
♦ Ethiopian Branch opens at St. Michael Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Garland, TX.
♦ Wesley Branch opens at Wesley-Rankin Community Center in Dallas, TX.
♦ Leupp Branch opens at Leupp Baptist Church in Leupp, AZ.
♦ UTD Chapter (IntelliChoice of UTD) is established at The University of Texas at Dallas (First student club at college).
♦Skillman Branch opens at the Southwestern Public Library in Dallas, TX.
♦Eritrean Branch opens at the Eritrean Community Center in Dallas, TX.
♦ Coppell HS Chapter (IntelliChoice of Coppell HS) is established at Coppell High School (First student club at high school).
♦ Preston Branch relocates to the Renner Frankford Public Library in Dallas, TX and is renamed as the Renner Branch.
♦ Carrollton Branch relocates to Dallas Oneness Church in Carrollton, TX.
♦ MPCC Branch opens at Melting Pot Community Center in Dallas, TX (Serving Nepalese and other immigrant/refugee communities).
♦ Wesley Branch relocates to the North Oak Cliff Public Library in Dallas, TX, and is renamed as the NOC Branch.
♦ Colony Branch opens at The Colony Public Library in The Colony, TX.
♦ The Michael Finley Foundation Branch opens in the Long Middle Public School in Dallas, TX.
♦ IRC Branch opens in the IRC Center in Austin, TX
♦ Carrollton Branch relocates to the Carrollton Public Library in Carrollton, TX
♦ Carver Branch opens at the Carver Public Library in Baton Rouge, LA
♦ Teen Tech Branch opens at the Teen Tech Center in Dallas, TX. (online)
♦ San Antonio Branch opens in San Antonio, TX. (online)
♦ Nashville Branch opens in Nashville, TN. (online)
♦ Los Angeles Branch opens in Los Angeles, CA. (online)
♦ Richardson Branch opens in the Richardson Public Library in Richardson, TX.
♦ Nashville Branch moved to the DKM Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Nashville, TN.
The key to our success with this program has been our tremendous team of volunteers. Among them are professors, engineers, high school students, and college students. In the 2018–2019 academic year, the tutoring program continued its rapid growth, with 1,087 students and 800 volunteers registering online.