2017 and beyond... :)

We are so honored to have you on our team for 2017!! We are very excited for all the little (and big) lives we can play a part in changing this year and look forward to sharing the journey with you all.

In 2017 we are focusing our efforts on four projects that, we believe, will have the greatest impact on the children and communities we serve. We are honored to be partnering with a number of incredible organizations to make these programs a reality. Below are the four programs. If any of these spark joy in you then I invite and welcome you to get involved as a volunteer, champion or however you would like - it's going to be a fun ride!!

Hands up for the Arts - Street Art Initiative With the children and officers of the Hollywood Police Activities  League and the office of Council District 4 we are creating a road map of street art piece designed and created by the kids in Hollywood. We now know this experience provides ownership and civic pride in the children, improves their educational focus, view of law enforcement, and reduces violence in the community. Girls Make VR To continue from the huge success of our first Girls Make VR workshop at VRLA's summer expo we are excited to be working with the VRLA school and SH//FT network to provide weekly classes to girls from underserved communities in VR and AR content creation. The classes will provide them the skills, understanding and confidence to place them in a variety of new college course and jobs. The world of VR and AR is just opening up to us and we believe our girls deserve to be at the forefront. Pretexts- Art in everyday instruction- Professional Development  We are honored to be partnering with Harvard University's Cultural Agents to bring their professional development program Pre-texts to some of our city's most challenged Charter School students. Pretexts equips teachers with ways to use art when helping students master difficult concepts in all subjects. We feel it is the most effective way to break through learning barriers for students who are struggling with standard instruction. The Empathy Project We are currently exploring schools from which to bring children of two very different cultural/environmental and economic experiences together to design and create an public art piece that promotes environmental sustainability, ownership and cultural connection. The overarching goal of the program is to build long lasting empathy and connection between the two groups of students and their communities. These are our future leaders and we want to ensure they have a well rounded empathetic vision of their world.