Statements

Mission

The mission of Jazz Empowers is to transform the lives of youth in underserved schools through jazz education. We fulfill this mission by partnering with underserved schools across the country to start and develop jazz programs. We are driven by our belief that every child in America has the right to a high quality music education. We teach jazz because it is rooted in improvisation which maximizes students' creativity and self expression. We believe jazz has the power to transform students' lives intellectually, emotionally, and socially. Because jazz is a language we teach the next generation of jazz musicians to listen, express, and create.

Background

Youth attending underserved schools across America do not have the same access to a quality music education as their more economically advantaged peers. While 57% of all public schools are designated as low-income serving schools by the federal government, only 26% of the bands performing at the top jazz festivals this school year were low-income serving schools. In addition, schools with high poverty rates are half as likely to offer 5 or more music courses than schools with low poverty rates.

Jazz Empowers is a non-profit organization that exists to close these opportunity and achievement gap in music education between low-income students and their more economically advantaged peers. We fulfill this mission by partnering with underserved schools across the country to start and develop jazz programs.

Jazz Empowers was founded in 2014, and launched a pilot program serving 30 students in Nashville for the 2015-2016 school year . Since then, Jazz Empowers has steadily grown and now serves 1400 students across 26 states.

Jazz Empowers has two main programs that help address is issue of inequality in music education. Our Charter School Residency Program introduces and operates jazz bands in underserved charter schools with no existing instrumental music programs. The schools we serve have the desire to provide a full-scale band program, but can't afford the nearly $100,000 needed to do so. We offer a more affordable option and take on all operations of the jazz band. We hire highly qualified music educators to lead the programs and we provide instruments to all participants who cannot afford them. Each jazz band meets 2-4 times a week for the entire school year. This is a program that is in very high
demand, and last year we have only been able to accept 25% of new school applicants due to the high volume of applications and a shortage of administrative support staff.

In our Band Director Support Program we partner with band directors that already work full time at an underserved schools to help them develop their jazz program. We provide a grant the band director can use for clinicians, instruments, sheet music, and other crucial resources. We also coach the directors on how to implement our provided curriculum and build their program.

Impact

We have seen our programs make some significant impact during last school year.

2021-2022 School Year Accomplishments
- We grew from serving 1400 students to 3000 students.
- We started jazz programs in 3 Title 1 MNPS Schools: East End Prep, Antioch High School, and Hillwood High School
- We launched our Jazz Band Director Resource Site, which currently has over 200 members.
- We successfully launched the inaugural Jazz Empowers Student Advisory Council
- 78% of students in our programs felt that playing in jazz band has made them a better overall student
- 64 % of students in our programs enjoyed school more because they were in jazz band.

Needs

The following are our top five needs for our programs going into the 2022-2023 school year.

1.) Instruments - A donation of $130 will allow us to provide a brand new instrument to a student in one of our jazz bands.
2.) Extra instructors - We can always use extra instructors to help provide more focused attention to the students in our jazz programs. $65 allows us to bring in an extra instructor to help rehearse one of our jazz bands.
3.) Video Lessons - $70 will help us develop a high quality video lesson for one of our students. These are extremely helpful for our students practicing at home and are the main reason we have still been able to host virtual rehearsals during the pandemic.
4.) Fund a Jazz Band - $1,000 will help us fund another jazz program in our Band Director Support Program.
5.) Donated office space in Nashville so we can have a physical office location and place to set up our video recording lesson studio.

CEO Statement

Message from Founder and Executive Director Andrew Johnston,

Jazz Empowers has experienced incredible growth and impact since our founding in 2014. I believe this is because our mission and work addresses a need that resonants with most people. Despite different backgrounds and political beliefs. most people I meet understand that poverty in America is an important issue that needs to be addressed. Those same people know that learning music can have tremendous cognitive and socio-emotional benefits on the lives of youth. So when I talk about how at Jazz Empowers we start and develop jazz programs in underserved schools, there is usually a moment where it clicks with that person and they buy into our work.

Our mission is to transform the lives of youth in underserved schools through jazz education, but how do you measure if students's lives are transformed? We can look at statistics, like how 60% of our new jazz band students believe that participating in jazz band made them an overall better student in school, even after playing their instrument for just three months. I think these statistics are very powerful, but where I see that transformation crystalized is in the community, confidence, and joy developed in our students ensembles.

A recent example of this was when one of our schools found out they were named a finalist band at the most prestigious high school jazz band competition in the country. When the bassist from the Jazz Lincoln Center announced their school's name as finalist band, everyone jumped out of their seats, shouting with joy, and converged with a 20 person group hug. That feeling of collective group accomplishment is life changing. When those students are in college in a couple of years and experience some challenges, they can look back at that moment for self-confidence and call their former band members for support and guidance.

The benefit of being a young, mid-size organization, is that donor's gifts can truly make a huge difference no matter the size. A donation of $25 helps us provide a box of reeds for a band. A $65 donation and allow us to hold an additional rehearsal to help prepare a band for a performance. A $1,000 donation can help us support a new school for the entire year.

All of these contributions help us provide everything our students need, so they can solely focus on performing this great American art form of jazz together, as a band, as a community.

I invite you today to join us in helping transform more students lives through jazz.

Sincerely,
Andrew Johnston

Board Chair Statement

Message From the Jazz Empowers Board President

I have been on the Board/affiliated with Jazz Empowers for the last four years. Within that short time, the organization has grown exponentially in size and revenue now serving 3000 students in 31 states. It has a strong and diversely talented leadership team in its current Board of Directors. Jazz Empowers quality of programs, stability and dedicated Executive Director leadership, has contributed to its unique ability to build its reputation and secure multi-year agreements with additional schools and its students.

Our key challenge has been to increase operational resource support and bench strength to support our organizational growth. Given the current revenue forecasts, we are now able to bring on more contracted help and offer instructors longer term student engagement opportunities. Ultimately, the goal is to hire full-time positions in key markets enabling us to spend more time on student program development, marketing and partnership efforts.

Before joining Jazz Empowers I worked with many non-profits to help them develop long-term strategic plans. In doing so, I got a strong sense of who would ultimately succeed. Although most had a worthwhile mission and passion for their cause, few had the skills, talent, dedication and right business model to thrive. As soon as I started working with Andrew, it became evident that Jazz Empowers possessed all the qualities necessary to succeed. These attributes, combined with my own interest in music education and the spark it can ignite in today's youth, has made my affiliation with Jazz Empowers that much more rewarding.

Sincerely,
Larraine Voll Morris
Jazz Empowers Board President

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Arts, Culture & Humanities  - Music
Secondary Category:	Education  - Elementary & Secondary Schools
Tertiary Category:	Education  - Charter Schools