FUND AIMS TO HELP BREAK POVERTY CYCLE

New scholarship for unhoused youth will support education

In just two weeks, one San Diego school social worker raised more than $25,000 to give homeless youth more opportunities for “new beginnings.”

Jennifer Weck partnered with community advocates and the San Diego Foundation to establish the New Beginnings Scholarship Fund for Unhoused Youth in San Diego — one of the first of its kind exclusively for San Diego’s homeless youth, according to Weck.

Weck was inspired to create the scholarship by her internship last year at Monarch School, a K-12 public school in Barrio Logan for children experiencing homelessness. Now, she hopes to broaden the awardwinning work she did there to more homeless youth across San Diego County.

“They have so many more barriers than the average student,” she said. “So instead of trying to rehabilitate or fix what has been broken, let’s try and help the youth get on a brighter path.”

In San Diego County, about 20,000 public school students lack permanent housing, county Office of Education data shows — one of the largest unhoused populations of public school students in the U.S. Some live in shelters or motels; some are doubled-up in shared housing; others live in cars or on the streets.

“Children are always the future — and I know that sounds cliche and maybe kind of cheesy, but it couldn’t be more true,” Weck said. “Yet there are thousands of (youth) who are really fighting an uphill battle trying to complete their education while experiencing homelessness.”

Weck says the scholarship was established as a new solution to address homelessness: supporting access to higher education beyond high school. Doing so “can help unhoused youth break the cycle of poverty and homelessness for future generations,” she said.

There’s other help available specifically for collegebound homeless youth, including from two national organizations that offer scholarships and support for students throughout their college experience.

The National Associ