SAN DIEGO (April 22, 2024) – Monarch School Project – a leading nonprofit providing youth and their families experiencing homelessness with academic and social growth, emotional support and life skills designed to help them succeed – has been awarded the 2024 Director’s Community Leadership Award by the FBI’s San Diego field office.
Stacey Moy, Special Agent in Charge of the San Diego Field Office presented Monarch School Project leadership with the award during a private ceremony at the San Diego FBI field office held in March, and organization leadership was honored at another ceremony in Washington, D.C. at FBI Headquarters on Friday.
“Monarch School Project has been a life-changing educator for not only its students, but for FBI San Diego employees as well. Over the last 10 years, they have served as an invaluable partner, sharing the common goal of protecting the youth that reside in our community. This is a well-deserved award,” said FBI San Diego Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy. “The Monarch School Project’s efforts have had, and will continue to have, a long-lasting impact on San Diego as their students continue on, echoing their values of resiliency, leadership, and compassion in our community.”
The FBI created the Director’s Community Leadership Award in 1990 to honor dedicated individuals and organizations from across the country for their extraordinary contributions to strengthening communities and reducing crime and violence. Every year, field offices select recipients for this award on behalf of the FBI Director to recognize their tremendous support.
“We are honored to have been chosen for this award by the FBI’s San Diego field office,” said Afira DeVries, president and CEO of Monarch School Project. “Thousands of youth in San Diego are dealing with complex trauma and the stress of homelessness on a daily basis. This recognition further highlights the importance of the work we’re doing, a model we will help other schools and organizations to replicate nationwide.”
Monarch School Project, which operates Monarch School in the Barrio Logan neighborhood, was selected for the award in San Diego for its work with unhoused youth and their families. Because of the unique needs of the youth it serves, Monarch School Project’s approach focuses on helping students gain skills they need to improve their lives, develop awareness of their emotions and healthy coping skills, explore their passions and plan for a self-sufficient life. Monarch School Project has created a model educational foundation for schools nationwide so they can provide a better safety net for children whose families are experiencing homelessness.
Said DeVries: “We work with youth and their families to build a sense of belonging and stability. For example, according to our social-emotional study on Monarch School students, 60% of students increased or maintained their feeling of safety at school, meaning Monarch School provides and environment where students feel engages, safe and like they belong.”
For more information about Monarch School Project’s leadership, programs, volunteer opportunities and impact on San Diego’s unhoused community and beyond, visit monarchschools.org.
About Monarch School Project
Founded in 1987, Monarch School Project has been dedicated to providing a sense of belonging for thousands of unhoused youth and their families. The mission of Monarch is to nurture resilience by providing youth experiencing homelessness with academic and social growth, emotional support and life skills designed to help them succeed and define their own path to achievement, while stabilizing and supporting their families. Its trauma-informed and strength-based community empowers those they serve to overcome the challenges impacting their education and well-being.
Monarch School Project serves hundreds of unhoused youth in Barrio Logan at Monarch School, the nation’s only K-12 public school offering a comprehensive program designed to educate youth experiencing homelessness. In 2023, Monarch School Project started scaling its operations to educate and support youth experiencing homelessness in K-12 schools in the region and around the country, due to immense need and proven methods to uplift this community.
Monarch School is a public-private partnership between the San Diego County Office of Education and the nonprofit Monarch School Project, a 501 (c)(3) corporation. Learn more at www.monarchschools.org. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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Important Note: In our effort to mitigate the stigma often associated with the label “homeless,” we consistently refer to people experiencing homelessness as “unhoused.” In this way, we communicate that homelessness is neither a permanent condition nor a personal characteristic. En español, decimos estudiantes en situación sin vivienda.
Media Contacts: Olivia Stafford / Sandy Young, J. Walcher Communications
[email protected] / [email protected], 619-295-7140
