Leon Bray spent his pandemic Saturdays with a hammer and table saw, piecing together a better learning environment for elementary schoolers in Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood.
“We’re building desks for kids who don’t have a place at home to study,” Bray said, explaining the project he’s been working on for months. “And I like learning new stuff.”
Students in Detroit have spent much of the year learning virtually from home. As if that arrangement weren’t challenging enough, many of those children lacked a space of their own to focus on video classes and complete homework. That’s one reason educators say the academic toll of the pandemic has been especially harsh for students from low-income families.
“We started hearing people say, ‘Yeah, they gave us computers [for virtual learning], but we don’t have anywhere to put them. “I can’t be at the dining…
