Local music education nonprofit reaches children citywide

Rock to the Fu­ture Pro­gram Dir­ect­or Joshua Craft helps Takhari Cas­selle, 10, play the elec­tric gui­tar for the first time at a free work­shop at the Cent­ral Phil­adelphia Lib­rary. ALI EAVES / STAR PHOTO

One in three schools in the School Dis­trict of Phil­adelphia has no mu­sic pro­gram, ac­cord­ing to the dis­trict. And private les­sons are ex­pens­ive, leav­ing scores of the city’s chil­dren with no ac­cess to mu­sic edu­ca­tion. But hus­band-and-wife duo Jes­sica and Joshua Craft of Rock to the Fu­ture are work­ing to change that.

Sat­urday marked the launch of non­profit Rock to the Fu­ture’s pi­lot part­ner­ship with the Phil­adelphia Free Lib­rary. Through the part­ner­ship, Rock to the Fu­ture holds free monthly mu­sic work­shops for chil­dren ages 3 to 17 at the Cent­ral Phil­adelphia Lib­rary, 1901 Vine St.

The work­shops are one of the non­profit’s new­est ven­tures in its mis­sion to provide free mu­sic edu­ca­tion to Philaedlphia’s un­der­served youth, in turn pro­mot­ing aca­dem­ic per­form­ance, self-es­teem, pas­sion and cre­ativ­ity for the city’s kids.

“It’s us­ing mu­sic as an in­cent­ive to help kids keep fo­cused and bet­ter their lives,” said Pro­gram Dir­ect­or Joshua Craft, 29.

When the Crafts star­ted Rock to the Fu­ture in 2010, they had 13 stu­dents, a few used in­stru­ments from Craigslist, a run­down church base­ment in Fishtown and a $17,000 budget.

This year they ex­pect to reach 300 stu­dents throughout the city, said Jes­sica Craft, 28.

The or­gan­iz­a­tion is also pi­lot­ing a part­ner­ship in the com­ing weeks with Hor­a­tio B. Hack­ett School, where Rock to the Fu­ture’s in­struct­ors will teach weekly gui­tar and pi­ano les­sons to ele­ment­ary stu­dents dur­ing the school day.

Hack­ett is one of the city’s lucky schools that already has a mu­sic pro­gram—but there are about 70 schools that do not, ac­cord­ing to the dis­trict. That’s where the Crafts want to go next, if they can get the fund­ing. It would cost $2,500 to $3,000 per school per year to ex­pand the pro­gram, Jes­sica Craft said.

Rock to the Fu­ture moved its Sat­urday work­shops from its Fishtown loc­a­tion to the lib­rary in the Fair­mount/Art Mu­seum area to make the pro­gram more ac­cess­ible to people all over the city, she said.

The work­shops are di­vided by age group and cov­er top­ics ran­ging from make-your-own shakers for the 5-and-un­der set to an in­tro­duc­tion to song­writ­ing for 9- to 17-year-olds.

Joshua Craft, who plays gui­tar and bass and has taught mu­sic for more than 10 years, teaches the work­shops with oth­er staff mem­bers or vo­lun­teers.

At one of the work­shops last Sat­urday, Craft taught elec­tric gui­tar to two 10-year-olds who had nev­er had a les­son be­fore. By the end of the hour, they both could play Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and both wanted to con­tin­ue play­ing the gui­tar.

Stu­dents can pre-re­gister for the work­shops at rock­tothe­fu­ture­philly.org but 10 spots are left open for walk-ins.

Rock to the Fu­ture’s ori­gin­al pro­gram, the Mu­si­Core Af­ter­school Pro­gram, which provides stu­dents with mu­sic les­sons and help with home­work, is still go­ing strong with 35 stu­dents en­rolled this year, Jes­sica Craft said.

The Crafts have seen a real im­pact in their stu­dents—most of whom are from Fishtown, Port Rich­mond, or Kens­ing­ton, she said.

“We’ve seen kids go from fail­ing grade point av­er­ages to end­ing the year with a B av­er­age,” she said. “We also have kids that star­ted with A’s but nev­er had the op­por­tun­ity to play mu­sic, and then they pick up an in­stru­ment and they’re amaz­ing, and they wouldn’t have that op­por­tun­ity if the pro­gram didn’t ex­ist.”

Craft’s vis­ion is that the short-term im­prove­ment in the stu­dents’ aca­dem­ic lives will trans­late in­to a last­ing im­pact on the neigh­bor­hood.

“The long-term hope is that in a couple years, when they all gradu­ate from high school and get in­to col­leges, they’ll come back and help de­vel­op the com­munity,” she said.

You can reach Ali Eaves at aeaves@bsmphilly.com.

Josh Craft, Helping Kids “Rock to the Future”
By Cherri Gregg

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Josh Craft, 28, fell in love with music the first time he picked up a guitar, at age 14.

“My mom bought me an acoustic guitar and I immediately fell in love with playing the guitar and writing songs,” he recalls.

Craft grew up around musicians.  His mother played in country-rock band, and the Honesdale, Pa. native tagged along on gigs.

In high school, Craft played in a ska-punk band and taught guitar lessons for $10 an hour.

Eventually, he put his dreams of becoming a doctor on the back burner, deciding to study the music business.

“I was always really interested in teaching music,” says Craft, who graduated from Drexel.

Fast forward a decade to 2010, when Craft helped his then-girlfriend (and now his wife), Jessica, launch “Rock to the Future,” a nonprofit organization that provides free music education to Philadelphia’s underserved youth through after-school programs.

In the beginning, he recalls, they had little money and big dreams.

“I was a volunteer for two years, and I worked four jobs just so I could pay my rent,” says Craft.  “It’s been a struggle, but it’s incredible to see how it’s benefiting these kids.”

Today, Craft has one job: he’s Rock to the Future’s program director.  He provides guitar lessons, and runs the after-school program, weekend workshops, and summer camp.

Over the past four years, he says, the group’s impact has grown from 13 students to now touching more than 250 families each year.

Kids can come into the program between ages 9 and 14, and they can stay until they graduate high school. For the after-school program, kids come in from 3pm to 6pm and must complete their homework before they can practice music.

For many young people, the experience is life-changing.

“They’re writing their own songs, (and) we get them into their recording studio,” says Josh Craft.  “Getting this type of exposure at this age could have a huge impact.”

His programming includes performances at major Philadelphia venues such as the World Café Live.  The young musicians have had several cool gigs including opening for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Philadelphia Soul, and playing for tree-lighting ceremonies.

“My hope is that they continue to enjoy music,” says Craft, “and I hope they share it with other people.”

And even though Craft gets paid to do what he does, he says it’s not about the money.  “It’s just a really rewarding experience,” he says.

To hear the kids in action, check out Rock to the Future’s young musicians holiday performance at St. Michael’s Church in Fishtown, on December 20th. For more info, go to rocktothefuturephilly.org.

Hear the podcast…

Looking for a great gift for the musician or music-lover in your life who has everything? For a limited time, you can score your very own 2013-2014 RTTF Backstage Pass! Rock to the Future’s Backstage Pass was recently figured in Philly Give & Get’s new gift-giving guide with features “Gifts That Give Back to Philly Kids” Check out the article here!

By KERRY HANNON

Published: November 7, 2013

It’s a soaring rendition of a ubiquitous song. The simple repetition of the word is comforting, mesmerizing and uplifting. And as the voices of the eight vocalists merge while they gather around the piano and their vocal coach, it is easy to forget for a minute that this is not a troupe of professionals.

The students are part of Rock to the Future, a nonprofit after-school music program for underprivileged children who receive individual music lessons, learn to read sheet music, compose their own songs, play a range of instruments like drums, guitar and keyboards — and form their own rock bands. “We focus on contemporary music and instruments to get students engaged and motivated,” said Jessica Craft, 28, the program’s founder and executive director.

It received start-up financing of $15,000 in 2010 from Women for Social Innovation, a nonprofit philanthropic “giving circle” with a membership of around 20 women, providing seed money to social innovators seeking to help women, girls and families in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Such giving circles are on the rise. Members pool their money to make grants to local nonprofit groups, realizing that one hefty contribution can have an immediate influence in a community.

Rock to the Future, for example, has expanded to 35 after-school students from 13. It expects to work with 300 students this year via additional weekends, summer workshops and a pilot mobile unit, with an operating budget of $204,980.

“It’s a way that women are becoming more strategic in their generosity and making the biggest impact on groups and causes they care about,” said Debra J. Mesch, a director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University School of Philanthropy.

The precise number of women’s community giving circles can be a little tricky to parse. Typically, prominent women’s philanthropy groups receive the recognition, like Women Moving Millions, whose members individually make gifts of at least $1 million for the advancement of women and girls. Another group is Women’s Funding Network, whose members invest $65 million annually by connecting more than 160 organizations that fund women’s causes across the globe.

But for a sense of the grass-roots efforts that go beyond financing primarily women’s initiatives, consider the growth of the Women’s Collective Giving Grantmakers Network. In 2011, it had 20 members, including the Idaho Women’s Charitable Foundation in Boise and the San Diego Women’s Foundation. Today, there are 38 collective giving groups, representing 7,000 women in 18 states, including the Gainesville Women’s Giving Circle in Florida and the Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund in Missouri.

In 2012, the network’s members gave more than $8.9 million to nonprofits throughout the country. Circles choose the level of participation that suits their membership. “But the essence is that it’s guilt-free,” said Ana L. Oliveira, president of the New York Women’s Foundation.

You can be as involved as you want to be with no pressure. Some women just want to come to the annual meeting and vote for which groups are awarded the money. Others want to visit sites and see the organization in action, and still others sign on to volunteer directly with the groups that receive the grants. “Women love that,” Ms. Oliveira said.

In 25 years, her group has invested $33 million in over 280 community-based organizations, affecting the lives of 5.4 million women and children in New York City. “Women open their networks, bring their friends, and there is a major ownership in the cause that is funded.”

The amount of giving per member varies. Each giving circle selects a financial donation that is right for its members. Some circles set a lower giving level that can range from $200 to $500 annually. Others opt to set it higher, say, $5,000 to $25,000 a year. Most ask that each member give the same amount. Women for Social Innovation, for example, opted for a minimum annual giving threshold of $250 for women under 35 and $1,000 for those 35 and older, so that younger women, who may not have as many resources to contribute, could participate.

At Impact100 Philadelphia, more than 200 women, ages 30 to 80 (although most are in their 40s and 50s), donate $1,000 each and pool their contributions to make at least one grant of $100,000 annually to nonprofits they collectively choose from each year’s contributions.

“Our members want to make an impact and to see on a local level where their funding goes in our community,” Susan Dubow, the group’s co-president, said. “They want to see, touch, feel. This process allows them to.”

Since the group began five years ago, it has given a total of $940,000 and expects to top $1 million this year. Every member gets a vote. This year, it awarded two $104,500 grants and three $25,000 grants, out of an applicant pool of 150 local nonprofits.

And with a retention rate of 80 percent, the number of members is on track to reach 300 by July 2014, according to Jacquie Stern, the other co-president. New members are added by word of mouth. Current members hold coffees or cocktail hours with their friends and their friends’ friends.

The process yields another perk — a network that includes a diversity of professional women and stay-at-home mothers. “We’re building relationships with one another,” Ms. Stern added.

But philanthropic collaborations can be thorny, and philosophical disparities can arise. Determining the amount each member of a giving circle should donate, for instance, let alone picking a cause to help, can be a challenge.

As 14 year-old Samira takes the stage at World Café Live in front of hundreds of her friends, family and even strangers, she smiles from ear to ear. She has come a long way from the shy, self-conscious student that walked into the doors of Rock to the Future’s MusiCore after school program in 2010. She picks up her guitar and begins strumming the opening chords of an original song she has written. She steps up to the mic and sings – “I’m OK, I’m alright, I won’t give up the fight…”

Like many youth growing up in North Philadelphia, Samira’s family can’t afford to provide music lessons and, due to massive budget cuts, music programs have been cut from many Philadelphia schools.

Since we opened our doors three years ago, Rock to the Future’s free music programs have helped hundreds of at-risk youth like Samira. At Rock to the Future 100% of our students are from lower-income households and most come from neighborhoods where 60% of students don’t make it to high school graduation.

The good news is: WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE! 

This past year at Rock to the Future:

• 100% of 8th grade students in our MusiCore after school program were accepted into the best Philadelphia high schools
• 88% of the students maintained or improved their grades to an A or B average
• We have expanded our programming reach to over 300 additional youth this year by introducing new Saturday music workshops, a summer camp and MobileMusic workshops in Philadelphia schools.

And that was just last year, just imagine what we have in store for the years ahead!

That’s where you come in. As the need for free music education programs like ours grows in Philadelphia, Rock to the Future needs supporters like you to help us reach even more youth like Samira.  We all know and believe in the power of music to motivate, heal and inspire. With your financial pledge, you can give the gift of music to help change a child’s life forever.

Any amount – big or small – will help us make a bigger impact for the kids we serve.

Donate online today 

At Rock to the Future we know that your donation is more than a contribution – it’s an investment in our city’s most underserved youth to help them find creative solutions for a brighter future!

You ROCK!

Chosen out of 700 applicants as a top performing organization

Philadelphia, PA – 10/17/13 – On Monday, Rock to the Future was officially recognized by the Learning by Giving Foundation as a grant recipient of $1,000 during its most recent grant competition. The Learning by Giving Foundation, funded by Doris Buffett’s Sunshine Lady Foundation, distributes $10,000 grants every semester to over 30 university partners who are teaching students strategic grant making processes in their communities. In order to help anyone learn about philanthropy and achieving their giving needs, the Learning by Giving Foundation created Giving With Purpose, a free, online course offered this past July and August.

Students of Giving With Purpose had the opportunity to follow a more demanding “Giver track” where they could nominate local nonprofit organizations and advocate on their behalf throughout the course. With over 700 nominations and a rigorous peer review process, Rock to the Future made it to the 80 highest performing organizations and advanced to a final round of voting to determine which nonprofits would receive grants. In total, the Learning by Giving Foundation awarded $130,000 to 40 organizations throughout the United States.

Rock to the future provides underserved Philadelphia youth ages 3-17 with free comprehensive music education. Using contemporary music and instruments at a tool to motivate and engage students, the program has seen an improvement in not just musical ability but also academic performance and social skills. As a young organization just starting their 4th year, Rock to the Future has shown strong indications of long-term success and is currently raising money to help more youth this program year. To make donation to Rock to the Future’s year end campaign please visit their Indiegogo Campaign. 

“We are thrilled to recognize the work of these organizations,” said Alex Buffett Rozek, Chairman of the Learning by Giving Foundation. “Thousands of students in all 50 states and 111 countries participated in the MOOC. Their commitment to becoming effective givers enabled us to identify outstanding organizations in communities across the nation.”

Additional information on the course and its results are included in the Foundation’s press release from Monday, which includes an infographic that summarizes the course’s impact. The Learning by Giving Foundation will be relaunching Giving With Purpose again in the future and those interested can already pre-register to receive updates about the second course. Take a look at their website to learn more about The Learning by Giving Foundation and to sign up for the next course!

Thank you to everyone who could make it to Rock to the Future’s Rally for Rock event this past Saturday.We raised over $4000 – four times more then our goal! With an estimated attendance of over 600, this is the largest event Rock to the Future has held. With the funding received from this event, Rock to the Future will work with our partner schools to bring our fun, contemporary music workshops into the classroom this year.

JUMP Magazine
Philebrity – awesome video of Rodney of The Dead Milkmen
Photos from Rock to the Future’s Facebook Page

While we surpassed our goal for Rally for Rock, it’s only a small portion of the funding we need for the entire year. Music education improves academic performance, social skills, and is FUN!

Fun facts: 100% of Rock to the Future 8th graders are attending the best high schools in Philadelphia; last school year 25% of students improved their grades by at least 1 letter (or maintained good grades!); Over half of Rock to the Future students are on honor roll, 100% claim improved social skills

Demand music education in Philadelphia! Support Rock to the Future!  It’s not too late to donate:

GIVE HERE!

RALLY FOR ROCK SPONSORS
Thank you again to the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association for allowing us to hold the event;
The performers The Dead Milkmen (donated all merch sales to RTTF!), Andrew Lipke, West Philadelphia Orchestra, Conversations with Enemies, Break It Up, You Do You, and the Rock to the Future Student House band for performing; And our sponsors East Kensington Neighbors Associations, 3rd Fed Bank, Yards Brewery, Spodee Wine, Vittles Food Truck, Dapper Dog, Rustica Pizza, Thriftway, Slacks Hoagies, Dunkin Donuts, and Honest Tea.

Head on over to the Rally for Rock Eventbrite page http://rallyforrock.eventbrite.com/ to get your Rock to the Future Backstage Pass! Backstage Pass holders get access to our VIP tent where there will be pizza from Rustica (best pizza!), beer from Yards, Summer cocktails, delicious and cold Honest Tea, and an opportunity to meet the performers from the show. Only $60 for the Backstage pass, and you also get a signature tee shirt and other perks! Plus you’re helping music education in Philadelphia. What could be better? Reserve yours today!

Join us directly after Rally for Rock at Northbowl to bowl with members of The Dead Milkmen! During Rally for Rock, we will be raffling off an opportunity to bowl with Joe Jack Talcum and Rodney Anonymous at Liberty Lands park. Ten winners will be selected just prior to The Dead Milkmen’s performance and can bring a friend. Anyone (21+) can join us upstairs at Northbowl from 8pm-Midnight to hang out with the bands, eat some tator tots, play video games, and relax (or party!) after a hard day of supporting music education at Rally for Rock. 
 
Northbowl is located on 2nd Street near Poplar in Northern Liberties. Rally for Rock will take place from noon – 8pm at Liberty Lands park.

Get ready for Rally for Rock on Saturday, August 24th, 2013 at Liberty Lands Park!

This awesome concert will feature performances from The Dead Milkmen (reunion!!), Andrew Lipke, West Philadelphia Orchestra, Conversations with Enemies, Break it Up!, You Do You, and the Rock to the Future Student House Band. There will also be vendors, food trucks, refreshments, kids music activities, a VIP tent, raffles, prizes and more!

SATURDAY, AUG. 24th at LIBERTY LANDS PARK
12pm – 8pm
FREE, FAMILY FRIENDLY & ALL AGES!

Rock to the Future would like to thank our event sponsors – 3rd Fed Bank, East Kensington Neighbors Association (EKNA) and Honest Tea. Raffle items include a baseball signed by Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins and more! Take a minute to get to know some of our featured VIP vendors:

Aartvark Tees

Pretty Cunning