I am a jazz performance student in West Hartford, a decent part of an otherwise troubled city. There are many places within the community for youth to go instead of hanging out on the streets, but often times they lack the motivation and the interest to do so. Literally down the street from me is one of these troubled streets, and my program seeks a way to find a common denominator (music) and use it as a means of getting these kids off the street and into the classroom where I will use the history of Hip Hop/Jazz music to build a sense of pride in not only the community around them but also provide positive role models from a medium that most of the kids relate to.

I will be working closley with the West End Community Center, a fixture in this part of Hartford. My program will use music as a means to take kids off the street and put them into a classroom setting where they will be able to exlplore the realms of jazz and hip hop music as well as learn more about the African American tradition in popular American music. Hopefully, this program will prove popular, and at its peak I am hoping to get a representation from each of the 4 area schools the Center services and spread the word throughout the city of Hartford in much the same way as other more established organizations such as the Arist Collective already have in the North end.

I have been developing a curriculum with the director of the West End Community Center, Ms Garner as well as working out scheduling. I have developed a comprehensive curriculum as well as a schedule that will hopefully encompass two semesters, one from January-June and the other from June-August. At this point, I am primarily seeking out funding, as the organization portion of the project is complete. After this funding is obtained (which it will be), I will start classes as early in January as possible.

One of my aims is to make this program as low cost to the students as possible. If you are interested in funding us, please contact Ms Garner att 860-232-8081 or lgarner@thewestendcommunity.org. If you are interested in what we're doing, or would simply like to talk about the program, please contact us, we are open to everyone and would appreciate any help you could supply!