If you know her, then you most certainly love her, and she clearly has a whole lotta love for her hometown.
On Friday, June 21, Grammy Award-nominated R&B/soul singer-songwriter Andra Day will be performing at the Hilton Bayfront hotel to help the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts (SDSCPA) raise money for its programs.
Day grew up singing at the First United Methodist Church in Chula Vista and ended up graduating from SDSCPA (which lies just east of National City) in 2003 -- you know, before she went on to star in Apple commercials, land Grammy nominations and climb the Billboard charts.
Now, she's lending a hand to her alma mater, which is in desperate need of aid so it can keep providing high quality arts programs for future Days.
As the last magnet school in the San Diego Unified School District, SDSCPA serves kids in 70-plus zip codes in San Diego County. The school is 14th in the nation when it comes to diversity, and it boasts a 99% graduation rate, according to Friends of SCPA President Lorayne Sandino.
While the school is tuition-free, it's also donation dependent, and unfortunately, the $250,000 grant SDSCPA has been receiving for the past five years is going to the Los Angeles Unified School District because of San Diego's "lack of need," Sandino told SoundDiego over email.
Last year, the school was able to raise more than $75,000, which the SDSCPA used for guest teachers, academic and arts programming, college and career prep, community outreach and capital improvements.
You can join more than 200 faculty, alumni, family and friend attendees to help grow these fundraising efforts by purchasing tickets for SDSCPA's second annual Ruby Benefit Celebrating 40 Years of Free Public Arts Education.
An intimate Andra Day concert doesn't hurt either.
Rutger Ansley Rosenborg is an editor and digital marketer at NBC's SoundDiego. Find out more here.
