Quiet Publicly, Still Building With Purpose.
During July and August, SCORE was quieter online, but the work did not stop.
Sometimes community work is public. It looks like events, photos, videos, livestreams, and announcements. Other times, it looks like preparation, follow-up, planning, writing, training, partnership-building, and responding to people and communities when support is needed. July and August were that kind of season for SCORE.
After closing June with our Community Media Hub support of the 2026 High Desert All-Stars Scholarship & Awards Ceremony, SCORE continued building the foundation for deeper work across youth media, education equity, civic engagement, community partnerships, storytelling, and global community support.
One of the major pieces of work during this period was our professional development partnership with Val Verde Elementary. Through SCORE, Dr. Tayari Kuanda prepared and supported beginning-of-year professional learning focused on moving equity into actual classroom practice. The work centered on culture, communication, classroom management, disability inclusion, restorative response, and the real conditions teachers and students face every day.
That partnership matters because SCORE’s education work is not about slogans. It is about helping schools think carefully about students, families, language, culture, disability, discipline, belonging, and achievement. It is about giving educators practical tools they can use with real children in real classrooms.
SCORE also continued strengthening its Community Media Hub. Our students had already supported the High Desert All-Stars Awards by helping with setup, filming, live stream support, and post-production work. They also wore their new SCORE Community Media Hub shirts for the first time, representing not just a program, but a standard. Those shirts reflected what we are building: a student media team rooted in purpose, professionalism, creativity, and excellence.
The Media Hub is not just about teaching students how to use cameras. It is about helping young people learn how to show up, work as a team, solve problems, tell stories, and understand what professional media work requires.
SCORE also awarded intern Abdiel Miranda a scholarship to attend and complete the NYU Tisch Film & TV Industry Essentials certificate program offered through Yellowbrick. A second student was identified to receive the same opportunity. These scholarships are part of a larger goal: helping students move from interest, to experience, to real pathways in film, television, media, and storytelling.
July and August also included SCORE’s continued work around voter registration and civic participation. We prepared for nonpartisan voter registration efforts connected to National Voter Registration Week and National Voter Registration Day, worked on partner communication, campaign materials, planning tools, and outreach language, and continued coordinating with local partners who share a commitment to community access and public participation.
This work matters because civic engagement is not only about one election or one deadline. It is about helping people understand that their voice counts, their registration status matters, and their participation is part of community power. SCORE’s role is to help make that process more visible, accessible, and organized across the High Desert.
SCORE also continued developing the Journey campaign. Journey is more than a performance or a film project. It is a story-powered civic and cultural engagement effort rooted in identity, immigration, education, bias, justice, family, and belonging. During July and August, SCORE continued shaping the campaign around the upcoming festival and premiere, while preparing ways for the project to spark conversation, partnership, and action beyond the stage.
The Journey work fits directly into SCORE’s larger mission. We believe stories can move people. We believe communities need spaces where art, education, justice, and lived experience can meet. The upcoming festival and premiere are part of that vision — not just as entertainment, but as an opportunity to bring people together, invite reflection, and create stronger community connection.
July and August also included work connected to communities in Papua New Guinea affected by Hurricane Malia. Through the GoFundMe effort, SCORE helped bring attention to families and communities facing hardship and needing support. That work is connected to the same belief that guides our local efforts: when communities are impacted, we should not look away. Whether the need is in the High Desert or across the world, people deserve to be seen, supported, and treated with dignity.
So yes, publicly, SCORE may have gone a little quiet.
But quiet did not mean inactive.
Quiet meant we were building.
We were supporting educators. We were preparing students. We were strengthening youth media pathways. We were connecting young people to national-level film and television learning. We were organizing voter registration work. We were building the Journey campaign toward its festival and premiere. We were supporting global community relief. We were strengthening partnerships. We were preparing for the next season of work.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, SCORE continues to invest in youth opportunity, education equity, media training, scholarships, civic engagement, student support, storytelling, and community powerbuilding across the High Desert and beyond.
The work is not always loud. But it is moving.
If you believe in youth media, education equity, student scholarships, voter access, community storytelling, and practical support for communities in need, we invite you to support SCORE.
Donate. Sponsor a student. Partner with us. Bring SCORE’s Community Media Hub to your next event. Support the work that helps young people and communities be seen. Lean more at www.score51c3.org
SCORE is still moving.
The next season is already taking shape.