The Key Change Grants program is a unique program created by students attending the GRAMMY Foundation®'s 2008 GRAMMY Camp® and in partnership with Do Something, to encourage young people to create and promote social change through music.

Key Change Grants awarded a total of $25,000 to young people across North America for grassroots projects in their communities. Twenty finalists eached receive a $500 community action grant to further develop their projects and ideas. Five grand prize winners will take home grants of $3,000 for their projects and be flown to Los Angeles for two nights where they will attend the 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and walk the red carpet with their idols.

Cory Pyon, 17

Hearing, Believing, Music!
Passionate about music and community service, Cory Pyon created Melody 4 Community at his high school, a group that organizes benefit concerts like "Faculty Karaoke," "Blues for You Concert," and a "Battle of the Bands" in order to raise money for various local and international charities. When Cory learned last year about the Mekele School for the Blind in Ethiopia, he knew he wanted to involve Melody 4 Community to help raise money for the school. The funds will go to establishing a music education program for the blind students at the school. Cory credits music as changing his life, and he hopes that it will do the same for Mekele students too.

Leora Friedman, 16

Music is Medicine
Leora created the Music is Medicine project to help uplift hospitalized and seriously ill children through music. At Baltimore’s Hackerman-Patz House, a subdivision of Sinai Hospital, Music is Medicine members offered music lessons to the young patients, songwriting workshops, musical performances, and helped them to create an original, co-produced CD. The music provided a respite from the pain of the kids’ surgeries and treatments, and the CDs they created were a positive memory and testament to their strength and willpower while fighting their disease. With the grant, Leora hopes to be able to grow the program and offer it to other hospitals and children in need of musical elevation.

Jason Hricko, 18

West End Community Center Jazz/Hip Hop Cultural Enrichment Program
Jason Hricko, a native of West Hartford, CT, intends to offer a class on jazz and hip hop history designed to give youth a sense of pride in themselves and their community. As the city of Hartford’s violent crime rate has risen in recent years, Jason believes that offering this class will not only cultivate arts and culture appreciation in teens, it will also provide a safe space for them to hang out after school. Having located a venue for the class at a local community center, Jason will use the grant to provide books, classroom supplies, and extracurricular trips to jazz concerts and museums. Jason hopes to spark students’ interest in the African American musical tradition, introduce them to native Hartford role models such as jazz legends Jackie Mclean and Rene Mclean and hip hop stars such as Immortal Technique. Jason hopes to show students that people who came from their very own neighborhoods have achieved success and contributed positively to the community and the culture.

Josh Rushakoff, 17

Musical Match
A pianist of 12 years, Joshua Rushakoff created MusicalMatch for young musicians to share their talents with residents of senior centers and nursing homes. MusicalMatch is a San Francisco-based website to connect musicians with senior center activities coordinators, by providing critical information in a single, user-friendly database. If a senior center is looking for a line-up of youth performers for a Christmas show, MusicalMatch can make it happen. A successful slate of concerts last spring culminated by filling a request by the San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Project Homeless Connect to provide musicians for their spring day-long program, which served more than 2,000 homeless individuals. With this grant, Josh hopes to improve the website and its services, provide quality control, solidify MusicalMatch’s branding, and expand to new cities.

Zulma Monzalvo, 18

Voices of the Barrio
Zulma Monzalvo started the Voices of the Barrio, a Hispanic children’s choir in her community in San Diego, CA to provide free music education to children who would not otherwise be able to afford it. Zulma directs the choir, which has doubled to 66 students in six months time. She teaches the participants to read music and provides them with vocal training. The group rehearses twice a week, and the participants have come a far way in their musical knowledge and abilities. Zulma intends to use the grant to obtain music workbooks and songbooks for the choir and to include even more children in her ever-more-popular choir.

$500 Key Change Grant Winners

Alexus Gales- Youth Explosion 2009
Allie Fine- Social Justice Concert Series
Anea Isom- SADD Art Music and Poetry
Annie Chiang- Darfur Benefit Concert
ASHTON and ASHLEY RUIZ- A.C.T.I.O.N.
Darrion Borders- The Cipher-Ausin's Hip-Hop Project
Elizabeth Thorp-R,A,G,E Revolution Against Garbage Everywhere
Faith Brown- The Alive Campaign
Joshua Ford- Giving a Voice to the Voiceless
Kevin Wang- Night of Rights
Luke Skowronek- Rocking the Library
Moet Bacote- Rhythms for Peace
Morgan Kathleen Fisher- Bands that JAM for Africa
Mosa Almahdi- Change the World
Raechel Rosen- Creation Band
Sarah Petta- Musica de Mis Amigos
Susan Linton- The REC's Got Talent
Tarrance Johnson- Music Is Our Motivation
Tonita Watson- Don't Forget the Stars
Vance Newton- Fit at the BGC

Take a look at these additional music based projects and see how other teens are using music to make a difference.