Over the last weekend in April, KWF members and supporters attended what's probably the biggest gaming convention in San Diego, Kingdom Con. (Full disclosure: One of our staff is an organizer for Kingdom Con as well!)

Kingdom-Con is a San Diego Tabletop Gaming Convention located in Mission Valley and has been going strong for the last 7 years. Starting out primarily as a Warmachine miniatures tournament, it grew into a multi faceted community gaming event, where players interested in all genres of games and clubs come together to celebrate games.

One of the best things about Kingdom-Con is that anyone can just show up and find a game to play in. Whether it's a table top miniature game, board game or RPG. It doesn't matter, if you are a player, creator, manufacturer or someone new to gaming, everyone can come and find something to do and be a part of the community. ​

Comic books and pop-art inspired education might provide a path out of poverty for San Diego's homeless youth.  The Kevin Workman Foundation has partnered with Monarch School to launch an art educational program emphasizing student-led, project-based lesson plans, creativity, and collaboration, all funded through a San Diego community grass-roots campaign.

In December, we at KWF called our supporters to action with a question: When did you first feel inspired? What would you do to ensure that young students were afforded that same opportunity for inspiration? 

The enthusiastic response, along with support from two key San Diego partners fueled a highly successful launch for the KWF Educational Program, bringing art education to some of the most at-risk and disadvantaged children in the local area.

KWF joined forces with Monarch School, a K-12 comprehensive campus that's educated San Diego's homeless youth for nearly three decades, and Little Fish Comic Book Studio, which specializes in traditional and comic book art education.

The result: A comic book art and graphic novel workshop integrated with Monarch's existing high school curriculum. The workshop course is fully funded by KWF supporters for Monarch's second 2016 trimester as a pilot program, with an option for Monarch to renew it indefinitely. As we attended the first class and watched the engagement and interest build with each student, we were humbled, we were excited, but most importantly: We were inspired.