4 APRIL 1, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Glendale tutoring nonprofi t Excalibur on brink of
closing due to fi nancial troubles during pandemic
A student and teacher at Excalibur in a tutoring session.
Photo courtesy of Excalibur
and mentoring programs.
They also began to offer mental
health aid to any student or parent
who may need it.
“Let’s face it, within this pandemic
we have all been privy to feeling
quite depressed. Students lost their
schools, many businesses closed,
and parents lost jobs. It has been
tough,” Harris said. “Our children
are lost, and many teens have lost
their identities’ taking classes at
home. Our students have lost not
only their classrooms, but special
life events such as prom, graduations,
sporting events and awards
nights. The pain this has caused is
insurmountable. Many teens are
showing issues of depression, anxiety
and PTSD. We need a support
system in place and we at Excalibur
have one to offer.”
Excalibur has a small staff including
Harris, two professional teachers
Thomas Schirling and James De
Martini, youth leader Erin Watkins
and a licensed social worker Andrea
LoCascio, who is Harris’ daughter.
Tutoring sessions are set at $40
per hour and $25 per half hour.
When they reopened in July 2020
with COVID safety measures in
place, Harris said things were going
well as some students and parents
returned. But that quickly changed
as parents saw their work hours and
income decrease, lost their jobs or
had to leave their jobs altogether to
take care of their children learning
from home, Harris said.
Serving about 30 students in the
fall, Excalibur has lost half of it’s
clients in the past several months.
Most of the students they serve
live in Glendale, but they’ve also
had students from Howard Beach
and Brooklyn.
“I know I’m not exclusive to the
damage COVID’s done. COVID’s
not just killing people, it’s killing
dynamics of business and families.
It’s hurting us so much,” Harris
said. “All Excalibur is trying to do
is extend some compassion.”
The youth advocate said she was
able to receive a $20,000 loan from
the Small Business Administration
last year that helped them sustain
themselves last year, but those
funds quickly depleted. They are
now in the process of applying for
a PPP loan.
Harris said she sent letters to
several local elected officials who
may be able to help with discretionary
funding, but said she hasn’t
received any response from most
while others said they can’t help.
She said that while she understands
funding from elected officials
takes time, the lack of response
has been “frustrating,” as she sees
other larger nonprofits receive
funding.
Harris said she’s also petitioned
to elected officials to receive
enough funding in order to offer
free classes some day.
“My biggest dream would be to
have enough funds to say to parents,
‘You don’t have to pay, we’re here to
help,’” she said. “To me, a child’s education
is much more important than
the money. When the child grows up
and has a good foundation, then they
can attain their dreams. But I can’t
do that if COVID is strapping me.”
Harris is currently fundraising
in order to stay afloat. But she said
it’s been particularly difficult for
friends and long time supporters to
donate now, as they’re all struggling
to make ends meet.
“We are asking our community for
the same help that we have given so
many families in the past,” Harris
said.
Even though times are hard for
many people, Harris believes caring
for each other (and getting vaccinated)
will help the community
bounce back from the pandemic.
“There’s been so much dogma out
there with politics, hate and indifference.
I want everyone to realize
we must, by all means, try hard to
give each other so much compassion.
That’s the only way we’re going to
heal from COVID,” she said. “Even
if we’re disconnected … we have to
work with each other on a whole different
level of compassion and have
love for each other. When the masks
come off, we need to have hope for
each other. Otherwise, humanity
ends. And we’ve seen enough of that
with COVID, it’s taken too much. And
go get your vaccine, everyone!”
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Excalibur Reading Program, a
tutoring and education nonprofit
based in Glendale, has
served students in the community
for more than 10 years. Now, its
founder and president, Angelica
Harris, worries they may have to
close their doors.
Excalibur, located at 80-17 78th
Ave., reopened for in-person and
virtual tutoring sessions in the
fall, after it was forced to close in
March due to the safety risks and
statewide shutdown that came with
the COVID-19 pandemic. But, Harris
told QNS the pandemic has taken a
toll on the program, as several of
the families the organization serves
have been forced to leave due to
their own financial troubles.
“Last January we were so busy we
were planning to expand the program
and create an annex on the
same block, or we were thinking of
moving to a bigger building,” Harris
said. “Now, with a heavy heart, I
fear we may close.”
Excalibur’s programs include
creative writing and business, blog
and essay workshops, pre-K classes,
children’s readers theater, Little
Pages Book Club, teen and young
adult workshops, children’s and
adult art classes, state testing prep
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