From Empty to Joyful

When Gigi Martinez prepared to welcome Hub Club students back to campus in January, none of us knew what the months ahead would hold. What followed was one of the harder seasons our community has faced. Programming moved online. Campus went quiet. The rooms that are built to be filled with kids learning, playing, and growing sat mostly empty.

For Gigi, who coordinates Hub Club and serves as Urban Ventures' Lead Youth Advocate, the wait stretched on. She knew what those rooms were supposed to feel like. She just had to wait longer than any of us expected.

This month, she finally got to see it again.

Hub Club students came back to campus for Blooming Together, a family welcome back celebration. Students who had only seen each other through a webcam hugged one another and high-fived the staff. Parents reconnected. Kids played games, made snacks, swapped trading cards, and created art. The rooms filled back up with energy and noise and joy.

Hub Club is Urban Ventures' twice-weekly after-school program for elementary students. It exists because many kids have nowhere safe or structured to go after the school day ends. Students get academic support, choose electives like music, art, and movement, and are surrounded by mentors who show up consistently. Research shows kids in programs like Hub Club carry the benefits into the classroom: better grades, stronger social skills, more engaged learning.

But data doesn't capture what it looks like when a kid spots their friend across a room and runs to hug them.

Gigi does.

"No matter what happens in our community, we will always show up. Because that's who we are."