​David’s Harp Foundation—Saving At-Risk Youth

​I had the absolute honour of meeting Brandon Steppe while attending the
Global Influence Summit in San Diego, CA. He spoke about the incredible
David’s Harp Foundation, which he created and the founders of the summit
had chosen to support. I asked Brandon to tell me about it:

Brandon: The David’s Harp Foundation is a non-profit whose mission is to inspire,
educate and empower at-risk and homeless youth. We re-define “at-risk” to mean full of potential, but just lacking mentorship. We bring kids into this beautiful studio, and this is their home, where they get to create and learn. But they also meet influential people and mentors who can guide them in other areas of life.

Yvonne: Incredible! So what do they get to create here?
Brandon: They are having so much fun. They do a lot of hip hop, but we also
have multi-media production, photography and they’re learning post-production audio.
It’s really what they want it to be.

Yvonne: You have state-of-the-art, beautiful equipment here—which always needs funding,
of course. Tell me, what changes have you seen in the kids who come here?

Brandon: It’s crazy. You can throw a rock and hit a story around here,
because this is a place where people come to be transformed. But there are a couple
that are close to my heart; one in particular:

My “Little Sister”, I call her Livey, she was on the street 3 years ago,
refused to stay in her group home (foster care youth), continuously ran away
and refused to go to school. Her court-appointed advocate brought her here.
Within 6 months, she had a 3.87 GPA (awesome grades!), and was trading good grades
for extra studio time.

We went through ups and downs, highs and lows and going back to court.
We were there with her.

Yvonne: You just showed up. You stood by her. You don’t give up on these kids.
You give them a safe space and allow their creative genius. I love this, and thank you
so much for what you do!

We are all responsible for everyone. The more we give our at-risk youth a chance, the better off we all are. Brandon would love to see this in every community. What a wonderful movement to support and follow!

Thank you, Brandon, for loving these kids and giving them a chance!
You have Just Showed Up. You are changing lives!