DrawBridge’s Community Artist Program

Last year, according to reports from the California Department of Education, sixty-two percent of Californiaʼs almost six million students were classified as socioeconomically disadvantaged. Of these students, almost 200,000 had no fixed, regular, or adequate residence. Due to loss of housing or economic hardship, such students made their homes in motels, hotels, campgrounds, vehicles, parks, or emergency or transitional shelters.

A Community Artist Program
Recognizing the power of the arts to promote healing and recovery from trauma, DrawBridge has been providing free weekly expressive arts programs for children in shelters, supportive housing facilities, and community centers across seven San Francisco Bay Area counties for over thirty-five years. Always free, DrawBridge programs are offered directly where families live, removing financial and transportation barriers for participants.

DrawBridge was founded in 1989 by art therapist Gloria Simoneaux, who developed a highly effective method of using the creative arts to help children work through complex emotions associated with issues of homelessness and housing insecurity. Since that time, DrawBridge has served more than 40,000 children across the Bay Area.

Building on this history of service, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council, DrawBridge has launched a community artist program that connects children in shelters and transitional housing with local established and emerging artists.

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