The California Lottery formed a partnership in late 1993 with a Sacramento school, Dos Rios Elementary, located two blocks from Lottery Headquarters. More than 60 employees currently provide tutoring and mentoring to students in the program who are identified based on their need for assistance. Of the 230 students at Dos Rios School, more than 96 percent come from families living below the poverty line.

The Lottery supports its employees' involvement in the Partners in Education (PIE) Program through a matching time release program. For every hour of vacation an employee uses to volunteer at the school, the Lottery matches that hour, up to 20 hours per school year.

The key elements of the PIE Program are tutoring and mentoring:

Tutoring
Lottery employees and students participate in the Helping One Student to Succeed (HOSTS) program. HOSTS is a structured tutoring program in language arts which matches at-risk students with mentors who work together to improve each student's reading skills. The program tailors each lesson to the student's needs. Employees volunteer one hour per week to tutor students. Each tutor works with two students for half an hour each week. 
 
Lunch Buddy Mentoring
The most popular program among employees and students is the Lunch Buddy mentoring program. Employees spend one lunch hour per week, or every other week, with their student buddies. The purpose of the Lunch Buddy program is to provide positive adult role models for at-risk students. Employees bring lunch for their students and spend time together talking about what is happening in the children's lives, playing games, reading or working on crafts.

Additional Activities & Future Plans
Commitment to the students at Dos Rios School reaches beyond those who are active volunteers. Lottery employees have held fund raisers to install dry marker boards and purchased overhead projectors and a new school sign. In 1996, the Lottery, in cooperation with the Detweiler Foundation, installed a computer lab with educational software at Del Rios. The lab was created from reconditioned personal computers. An annual PIE Career Day with Lottery employees introduces students to the world of work and careers while encouraging them to stay in school.

Future plans for the PIE Program also include a sports program, continuing Career Day programs, and more fund raisers to assist the school.