A key component of Law Rocks’ mission is to promote music education for underserved youth. In 2023, due to our increased sponsorship and fundraising, Law Rocks has been able to offer a new grant at each Law Rocks show: The Music Matters grant. This grant is given to a local nonprofit that supports youth music education. Omi Crawford, director of Law Rocks, says of the grant initiative:
“Since our 2009 founding, Law Rocks has supported hundreds of incredible nonprofits, with an emphasis on youth music education organizations. The Music Matters grant is a natural evolution of our mission and a chance to formalize our support of amazing music education nonprofits across the country.”
Today’s spotlight is on our Miami grant winner, Young Musicians Unite. Law Rocks is thrilled to be able to increase our support for music education through the Music Matters grant, and Miami nonprofit Young Musicians Unite exemplifies our mission.
By offering the Music Matters grant in each city of our tour, we are able to support wonderful organizations and highlight the hard work of these local nonprofits to the greater community. Keep on reading for our spotlight interview with Sammy Gonzalez, CEO/Founder of Young Musicians Unite.
Our Miami Music Matters Grant Recipient: Young Musicians Unite
1) Can you tell us a little about the history of your nonprofit, as well as its mission and focus?
Young Musicians Unite believes that every student deserves access to music education regardless of their socio-economic background. We collaborate with schools to provide free music education which has been proven to inspire personal development, foster a sense of community and prepare our future leaders.
From 8 students at Young Men’s Preparatory Academy in Wynwood in 2013 to 40 schools and more than 4,800 students in 2023-24, YMU has grown rapidly and continues on this trajectory due to the rapidly expanding demand for our programs. We currently serve 11 elementary schools, 5 K-8 centers, 12 middle schools, 4 preparatory academies, and 8 high schools in primarily divested Miami neighborhoods of West Little River, Brownsville, Miami Gardens, Opa-Locka, Wynwood, Allapattah, Overtown, Little Havana, Hialeah, Homestead, Little Haiti, and other neighborhoods including Coral Gables and Miami Beach.
2) What is the best example of the way you’ve seen your organization’s work make a difference?
As the only specialized external provider of music programs for grades 5-12 during the school day, Young Musicians Unite makes it easy for schools across Miami-Dade County to envision, build, and create thriving music programs, even without prior knowledge or an existing program. YMU equips schools with trained instructors, lesson plans, instruments, and all the necessary resources for a vibrant music education as youth progress through the school feeder pattern, ensuring they never lose continual access to arts learning and personal development, wherever they happen to attend school. By providing support and oversight for teachers, YMU ensures smooth communication and consistency within the music program, eliminating teacher turnover and burnout, and creating a school culture that values creative expression and celebrates the talents of its students.
Image courtesy of Young Musicians Unite
3) What are some upcoming initiatives that you are planning for?
YMU is always looking for ways to expand and develop our programs, a selection of our initiatives we are planning in the near future are:
Brownsville and Little River: YMU is working towards raising the funds to launch programs in 4 additional schools in the Brownsville Neighborhood for the 2024-2025 school year. This will bring our total reach and impact for the Brownsville and Little River Neighborhood to a total of 12 schools and 1,200+ students for grades 5-12, covering every middle and high school in this underserved community. By reaching students as early as the 5th grade and providing consistent access to impactful programs until graduation, our programs create demand among students to stay in their neighborhood schools, enabling continuous student growth, administrators’ ability to increase student enrollment, and schools’ capacity to eventually self-fund their arts programs.
Launching the South Dade Music Alliance: $4.5 Million investment into South Dade over the next 4 years. The South Dade Music Alliance (HMA) program is a multi-year collective impact initiative. Our goal is to unite music and arts programming in South Dade by identifying organizations, amplifying their work and capacities, work towards collective impact, and the telling of a community's story. The HMA program, students will participate in different after-school and in-school music programs across 16 elementary, middle, and high schools in Miami Gardens, Florida, where access to music education programs has been historically limited. The HMA’s goal is that through music programming, students will gain academic, attendance, and socio-emotional learning benefits.
4) What is the greatest challenge your organization faces?
The greatest challenge YMU faces is the amount of demand we have for our programs in conjunction with the vast inequity within Miami-Dade County, the third largest school district in the US. We are finding it difficult to raise money fast enough to keep up with the schools that need us.
5) What does the power of music mean to you?
What inspired me to start YMU was seeing how many of Miami’s underserved communities experienced a staggering lack of music education opportunities. I grew up in similar circumstances and wanted to provide for these youth the same lifeline that music had been for me. After playing nearly 1,000+ concerts, going on 15 US tours, and landing spots at SXSW music festival and Vans Warped Tour, I know firsthand how it feels to dream big and achieve. Music gave me the foundation, discipline, skills, and network to achieve my goals, and through YMU, I do what I can to pay it forward to the best of my ability, enabling other urban youth displaying at-risk behaviors or from unstable home situations to develop a strong framework through which they can achieve their creative and personal aspirations.
6) How will the Music Matters grant be used?
The Music Matters grant will provide a full scholarship and instrument for 5 students across the school year. Each student will receive over 125 hours of instruction through 87 classes.
Learn more about Young Musicians Unite.