When San Diego high schools closed in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teenagers in our community became isolated from their classmates, school activities and support systems.<\/p>\n
Students like Gabriel, a senior at San Diego High School, faced even greater struggles. After moving in with his aunt in March 2020, Gabriel was grateful for a roof over his head. However, distance learning was difficult without a space of his own to join in a virtual class, take a test or study. Because of the pandemic, Gabriel\u2019s academics and well-being were even more at risk.<\/p>\n
But Gabriel, who had never achieved higher than a 2.1 GPA, now has a 3.75 GPA. The difference: spending every day at\u00a0The David\u2019s Harp Foundation<\/a>\u00a0distance learning hub.<\/p>\n Last year, as we were dealing with the pandemic, we received a generous grant from\u00a0Cox Communications<\/a>\u00a0of more than $60,000 for a distance learning hub at our East Village location in downtown San Diego to bring internet connectivity to at-risk and homeless students. In addition to the Cox grant,\u00a0Moniker Warehouse<\/a>\u00a0donated its event venue, enabling us to develop an educational space based on what our students told us they needed, not what we thought they needed.<\/p>\n Distance learning was new for us too. Our nonprofit was born in 2006 in a converted garage in Southeast San Diego, where neighborhood youth lacking support and motivation traded good grades for studio time to create music. Today, we are a diverse group of artists and educational support staff hosting a range of academic and art programs for hundreds of San Diego teens, including foster youth and those in the juvenile justice system.<\/p>\n