Connecting the Gap
We are a 501(c)(3) organization whose main goal is to connect the gap by surrounding youth affected by the death of a parent or guardian with a network of support and resources to successfully sustain them through school and transition into life post-graduation.
Learn About Us
In 2001, Quaneka was 14 years old and just entering high school, when she lost her mother who was only 35 years of age. Quaneka’s father became overwhelmed …
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Your contribution is essential to the fulfillment of our mission. Consider what your sacrifice can produce for a child.
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Show your support and consider wearing our heartbreak line so we can continue to help kids who are grieving the loss of a parent overcome their grief!
About Connecting the Gap
Our Mission
We exist to empower youth grieving the loss of a parent or guardian by creating mentor based relationships to enable healthy and optimistic futures.
Our Vision
We solve the problem of loss, by answering the need for connection.
What We Believe
- We believe that grieving is a process, and you are not alone.
- We will bring awareness by helping students develop new relationships.
- That all students should have the opportunity to reach their full potential with the support needed to overcome grief.
- In providing our students with a network of support.
- In a wholistic approach to ensure the success of the entire family and connecting them to community resources.
- In providing educational resources to enhance social and emotional skills to cope with loss.
- In providing diverse mentorship and counseling to ensure a healthy lifestyle, mentally and physically.
Our Pillars
Mentorship
We pair each child with a mentor. Mentors aid the child in receiving services to help them cope with loss and succeed in their future. This may include teaching from our grieving curriculum, finding a counselor, tutor, or assisting them with extracurricular activities they may be interested in.
Education
Education is important, and we assist our youth with anything they may need to help them continue their education successfully. By the time our youth graduate from high school, we want them to be able to go to college, go to trade school, go to the military, or land a job.
Health and Wellness
Through Health and Wellness, we aim to teach the children in our program a holistic approach to grieving by tapping into their physical, mental, social, emotional, environmental, and spiritual well-being. This assists our youth in enhancing their quality of life and happiness.
Economic Empowerment
Economic Empowerment teaches our parents or caregivers who are left grieving to make the right decisions around their finances, health, education, and housing. Some parents are left homeless. Some may get behind on their rent or mortgage. Some may just need bigger space because they are now the new caregiver to their niece, nephew, and grandchildren. We aim to assist them in a new management style to help foster new career goals while living a "new” or different life than before.
Counseling
Counseling is the most important piece of our program. Experiencing the loss of a parent can be very confusing for a child. Children of all ages may feel angry, confused, frustrated, hopeless, lonely, and deeply saddened by the loss. We want our kids to tackle grief upfront. This will aid them in developing healthy ways to deal with loss.
Help us By Donating Today
Your contribution is essential to the fulfillment of our mission.
Name Your Scholarship Program
Create a legacy by impacting the future of youth who desire to better themselves through academic, entrepreneurial, or social achievement. With your personalized scholarship, youth will receive assistance to enter college, vocational training, camps, or business programs.
About Our Founder
In 2001, Quaneka was 14 years old and just entering high school, when she lost her mother who was only 35 years of age. Quaneka’s father became overwhelmed with grief and no longer had the capacity to support Quaneka emotionally throughout her high school career. However, she had encountered many teachers and community leaders who stepped in the gap and ensured she received everything necessary to flourish throughout her high school career.
With the help of these volunteers she was able to stay on track, continue playing sports, keep her grades up, and attend the four-year university of her choice. Without the push from those adults, she believes her outcome post-graduation, would have been much different. Quaneka has taken her experiences and created a program to funnel the same love, mentorship and resources into the lives of teenagers who must face the hardest of deaths to create the brightest of futures.
