SAN DIEGO (CNS) – San Diego Foundation awarded $2 million in grants to 14 nonprofit partners with the intent of providing summer programming promoting post-pandemic academic and social recovery of students in the county, it was announced Thursday.
“Recent studies reflect greater learning loss than originally estimated for students compared to pre-pandemic levels, especially for those furthest from opportunity,” said Mark Stuart, president and CEO of San Diego Foundation. “These after-school and summer programs provide equitable access to expanded learning opportunities, so students thrive in school and life.”
Since it launched its Expanded Learning programs in 2021, the foundation has awarded more than $31 million in grants to 176 nonprofit partners, serving more than 50,000 students throughout San Diego County.
Grant recipients and their stated goals include:
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A Step Beyond: $100,000 to halt summer learning loss, build academic skills and confidence and support wellness and development of relationships with peers and staff in North Inland San Diego County;
Boys and Girls Club of Oceanside: $155,000 to provide Oceanside youth, ages 11-18, with full-day summertime science, technology, reading, engineering, arts and math programming, alongside traditional enrichment, recreational and career empowerment activities;
Center on Policy Initiatives: $150,000 for its Community Leadership for Community Schools project that trains and empowers students and parents to advocate for themselves and their communities;
Classroom of the Future Foundation: $150,000 to teach indigenous North Inland and low-income Southern San Diego County students about the use of robotics and adaptive technology, and to use artificial intelligence tutoring to address learning loss;
Fleet Science Center: $135,000 for its STEAM2You Summer Camp where campers from South San Diego County engage in project-based science investigations that foster creative thinking and problem-solving skills;
Girls Inc. of San Diego County: $125,000 for its Eureka! Program that is built around an intensive five-year college access and opportunity strategy for seventh to 12th graders from North Central and North Inland San Diego County;
Media Arts Center San Diego: $100,000 for a summer program where teaching artists use media arts and digital literacy tools to augment English Language Arts and math curriculum through visual storytelling for students from North Coastal and North Inland San Diego County;
Monarch School Project: $163,000 to serve 300 unhoused students over the summer, providing a safe place to be, an opportunity to engage in valuable enrichment opportunities and continue their critical academic progress;
Olivewood Gardens & Learning Center: $165,000 to provide four weeks of full-day educational programming for National City and South San Diego third through sixth graders focusing on environmental and climate science, garden and nutrition education, art and creative design;
San Diego Community College District Auxiliary Organization: $150,000 in support of Tutor-to-Teacher, a dual enrollment program that offers high school students from underrepresented communities college-level instruction and supports the formation of professional self-identity as emerging teachers;
San Diego Youth Symphony: $145,000 to provide Chula Vista Elementary School District students with three-week, multi-level comprehensive music camps;
SAY San Diego: $150,000 for leadership development and advocacy training for school and health equity with young people and their parents;
Vista Community Clinic: $160,000 to teach Vista middle schoolers about entrepreneurship basics during a 12-week summer program embedded within VCC REACH programs;
Young Echelon: $60,000 to introduce campers from North, East and South San Diego County to the world of robotics to help them better understand the science, technology, engineering and mathematics concepts used in modern manufacturing; and
Youth Empowerment: $125,000 for a leadership development program focused on bringing the voices of youth from communities most in need in San Diego into advocacy efforts that support effective expanded learning programming that benefits youth, families and the larger San Diego community.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Tyler McGhie had 27 points in UC San Diego’s 72-67 win against La Salle on Thursday.
McGhie also added seven rebounds for the Tritons (3-2). Nordin Kapic scored 18 points and added 10 rebounds. Hayden Gray had 14 points and shot 4 for 8 (3 for 6 from 3-point range) and 3 of 6 from the free-throw line.
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The Explorers (4-1) were led by Corey McKeithan, who recorded 21 points. Jahlil White added 13 points and seven rebounds.
The second half featured five lead changes and was tied five times before UC San Diego secured the victory. Kapic scored 13 second-half points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
“We’re not trying to be,” said the group’s sax player and driving force, Scott Page. “We want to do an exploration of Pink Floyd. We try to mash things up, create some entertaining ways of presenting the music.”
The title of the band’s show, which comes to San Diego for the first time on Sunday at the Music Box in Little Italy, is “An Exploration of the Music of Pink Floyd with Original Electronica Transitions.”
Speaking about Think X’s approach to the familiar canon of Pink Floyd, Page said “We play it heavier and we let our people solo and blow over it.”
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guitarist Kenny Olson of the band Think X, which plays Sunday in San Diego. (Think X)
Besides Page, who has backed up the David Gilmour-led Pink Floyd in concert, the group includes guitarist Kenny Olson, best known for working with Kid Rock (“He’s got this Hendrix-y, crazy vibe” touts Page); bassist Norwood Fisher (co-founder of Fishbone); drummer Stephen Perkins, whose resume includes Jane’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros; young guitarist Derek Day (“One of our secret weapons”); keyboardist Will Champlin; and vocalist Roberta Freeman, who Page says knocks the Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky” out of the park.
Page says he learned much about music and his craft from working with Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.
“He is the master of melody,” said Page. “He can kill you with one note. He changed my way of thinking. Sax players play all this crazy stuff, and he made me realize melody, how I can sing with my instrument.”
If you want to hear what Page is talking about, revisit for example Gilmour’s bluesy guitar solos on Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” from the “Wish You Were Here” album. Timeless. For tickets, visit musicboxsd.com.
Comedian Kathleen Madigan performs Friday at the Magnolia Theater in El Cajon. (5W PR)
Comedy
Like me, comedian Kathleen Madigan went to college and earned a B.A. in journalism. Unlike me, she must have decided that standup comedy was more rewarding.
It’s certainly been rewarding for Madigan. She’s been doing it since the ‘90s and has starred in comedy specials on both Netflix (“Kathleen Madigan: Bothering Jesus”) and Amazon Prime Video (“Kathleen Madigan: Hunting Bigfoot”). Both are still streamable.
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But you can catch her act in person Friday when she comes to the Magnolia Theater in El Cajon. Her show’s titled “The Potluck Party.” Does that mean somebody’s supposed to bring the potato salad?
The creative team for New Village Arts’ “Miracle on 34th Street: A Live Radio Play.” (New Village Arts)
Theater
Here come the holiday shows. Previews are under way at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad of its production of “Miracle on 34th Street: A Live Musical Radio Play.” Adapted by Lance Arthur Smith and with original songs and arrangements by Jon Lorenz, this festive show was previously produced at San Diego Musical Theatre in its former Gaslamp Quarter location.
I remember enjoying it there and finding the nod to the days of Lux Radio Theater much preferable to a straight retelling of the “Miracle on 34th Street” story that’s been filmed a couple of times.
Opening night, incidentally, is Nov. 30, so here’s something to do over the Thanksgiving weekend.
British singer Amy Winehouse performing in concert in Baltimore in 2005. BALTIMORE SUN
More music
For many years, music fans have mused about a “club” of artists that nobody wants to belong to.
It’s the 27 Club, named for the famous musicians who died at the peak of their fame at age 27, for reasons that include drug and alcohol overdoses, suicide or other causes. They include 1930s blues artist Robert Johnson; ‘60s rockers Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison; ‘90s grunge-rocker Kurt Cobain; and British singer Amy Winehouse, who died in 2011.
San Diego’s own Six String Society is paying tribute to all six of those gone-too-soon artists next week in Escondido with the return of their thematic concert “27 Club.” The concert imagines all six of these artists gathered together in a mythic Greenwich Village apartment circa 1969, and each takes their turn performing. The performers will include Whitney Shay (as Winehouse), Lauren Leigh Martin (as Joplin), Trevor James (as Hendrix), Tony Suraci (as Morrison), Austin David (as Cobain) and Robin Henkel (as the spirit of Johnson).
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Since Six String debuted “27 Club” at the Belly Up concert hall in Solana Beach in 2016, it has sold out virtually everywhere it goes. At this point, the 7 p.m. show on Nov. 29 at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, is sold out, but there are still tickets available for the 2 p.m. show that afternoon. Visit artcenter.org/event/six-string-society-presents-27-club.
Vocalist Jane Monheit joins the San Diego Symphony on Saturday. (Jane Monheit)
Jazz concert
If there was a Mount Rushmore of jazz singers, three of the four spaces should be taken by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. Each unique. Each unforgettable.
On Saturday, the San Diego Symphony presents at the new Jacobs Music Center “A Tribute to Ella, Billie and Sarah.” The concert features vocal performances by one of jazz’s best contemporary vocalists, Jane Monheit, along with Sherry Williams and keyboardist/vocalist Champian Fulton. The band behind then includes the great Rickey Woodard on tenor sax.
Local jazz icon Gilbert Castellanos’ Young Lions Jazz Conservatory All Stars open Saturday’s show. For tickets, visit purchasing.sandiegosymphony.org
Vocalist and guitarist Rome Ramirez of Sublime with Rome. (SCNG)
Rock music
A couple of veteran San Diego bands, Switchfoot and P.O.D., are on the bill Saturday at Petco Park’s Gallagher Square when Long Beach’s ska kings Sublime with Rome (formerly just Sublime) headlines what they’re billing as their “last California show ever.”
The farewell has to do with singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez, who will embark on a solo career once this tour is over.
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This concert is scheduled to begin at 7:35 p.m., which sounds like one of those odd Padres start times at Petco. For tickets, visit petcoparkevents.com.
U-T arts and dining stories you may have missed
The dining room of Jacquèe Renna’s new rooftop restaurant Communion in Mission Hills. (Pacifica Restaurants)
UCTV
University of California Television invites you to enjoy this special selection of programs from throughout the University of California. Descriptions courtesy of and text written by UCTV staff:
“A Conversation with Artist Jeff Koons”
Renowned artist Jeff Koons joins Kathryn Kanjo, director and CEO of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, for a conversation about his provocative and influential work. Known for his glossy, oversized sculptures of everyday objects like balloon animals and household items, Koons blends pop culture, consumerism, and art history to challenge traditional notions of art. In this discussion, he reflects on his artistic evolution — from early inflatable rabbits to iconic large-scale metal sculptures — and explores how his creations raise questions about cultural value, mass production and the line between high and low art. This program offers a unique glimpse into the mind of one of the most celebrated and controversial artists of our time.
“Greatest Anime Pioneer in Japan: The Osamu Tezuka Story”
Discover the legacy of Osamu Tezuka, often called the “God of Manga and “Father of Anime,” whose groundbreaking work set the stage for modern manga and anime. Tezuka was a visionary Japanese manga artist, animator, and founder of Mushi Production, one of Japan’s first anime studios. In 1963, he produced “Astro Boy,” the first Japanese TV anime series, which introduced limited animation techniques still widely used today. Rachel Costello, an anime enthusiast from UC San Diego’s Innovating for National Security Academic Program, presents a retrospective on Tezuka’s life and influence. Her dedication to anime and storytelling also inspired her role as executive producer of the U.S. Navy’s “Sea Strike 2041” comic project, merging her passions for art and national security.
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“Movement and Strength Training to Improve Metabolic Health”
Learn how to build a strong foundation for lifelong health with Dr. Natalie Marshall, as she explores the crucial link between muscle mass, metabolic fitness, and chronic disease prevention. Aging often brings metabolic changes and muscle loss, raising the risk for many chronic conditions. Marshall emphasizes the importance of movement, strength training, and balanced body composition in maintaining metabolic health. With practical tips on how to get started, she shares strategies to help you ‘build muscle for life’ and boost overall well-being. This program offers valuable insights for anyone looking to take proactive steps toward healthier aging.
And finally, top weekend events
A scene from Lamb’s Players Theatre’s 2023 production of “R-E-S-P-E-C-T-F-U-L-L-Y Christmas.” It returns for the second year on Nov. 26. (Ken Jacques)
The best things to do this weekend in San Diego: Nov. 22-24
Spanish star and World Cup champion Juan Mata has joined the expansion San Diego FC’s ownership group, making him the first active international soccer player to hold an ownership stake in Major League Soccer.
Mata joins David Beckham as only the second international player to be involved in MLS ownership.
“Joining San Diego FC as a partner is an exciting opportunity to help build something truly special in a city and league that are experiencing incredible growth,” Mata said in a statement. He added that the commitment to the community by both the club and the Right to Dream Academy “aligns perfectly with my own values. I look forward to contributing my experience and passion for the game and working alongside everyone here to build a club that inspires both on and off the pitch.”
He has been with the Western Sydney Wanderers of the Australian A-League since September.
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Mata has been a big name in international soccer for years. He won club honors in England, Spain, Turkey and Japan, and was a key player in the golden era of the Spanish men’s national team which won the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 UEFA European Championship.
A product of Real Madrid’s youth academy, Mata began his professional career with Real Madrid Castilla before transferring to Valencia CF in 2007, where he won the Copa del Rey the following year. Mata signed with Chelsea FC in 2011, where he was pivotal in helping the London club capture the UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, and UEFA Europa League titles, earning Chelsea’s Player of the Year honors twice in that span.
He joined Manchester United in 2014, winning the FA Cup, Europa League and EFL Cup in nine seasons. He joined Turkish side Galatasaray in 2022, where he celebrated his first league title, before signing with Japan’s Vissel Kobe in 2023, where he won the league again.
Mata founded the Common Goal initiative, pledging 1% of his salary to social causes.
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