When you join Harmony Project, you join a national movement.

We build harmony in low-income communities by uniquely inspiring and engaging children, young people and their families through sustainable evidence-based music programs that combine creativity, confidence building and teamwork. Harmony Project National Division guides civic institutions, school systems, community organizations, musicians and policy makers to collaboratively build community-based Harmony Project consortia for which full scholarships are offered. We provide technical assistance, facilitator and operations training, consulting and access to our growing national network. 

Benefits of Affiliation

  • Public health intervention that uses music to promote positive youth development, social inclusion and community safety;
  • Replicable and scalable model. Affiliated programs have launched in 10 regions across 7 states with more on the way.
  • A learning community and a growing national network of affiliated programs that support one another, now in 10 regions across 7 states. We continue to innovate, to collaborate and to improve based on the learning developed through our affiliated programs. We facilitate collaborative grant applications amongst affiliates for national funding opportunities.
  • Strengthened through cost-sharing partnerships with municipalities, school districts and charter systems, law enforcement, housing authorities, parks and recreation departments, community centers, colleges and universities and faith-based communities.
  • Award-winning model: Mentoring Through Music™ Our efforts have been recognized three times by the White House: 2009 Coming Up Taller Award (highest honor in the nation for arts-based youth program), 2011 Presidential Citizens Medal, 2015 Bright Spot in Hispanic Education (White House and U.S. Department of Education).
  • Successful track record amongst thousands of low income students of color living in high crime neighborhoods includes:
    • high school graduation rate > 93% since 2008
    • significant time-in-program (average of 7 years in 2016)
    • high rate of college attendance (93 – 100% since 2008)
    • student achievement (35 – 50% of graduates enter high value STEM majors in college; we have two Fulbright Scholars and one doctor so far)
    • high rates of peer mentoring/student leadership/community service
    • students leave gangs to focus on music in Harmony Project
  • Research-based (Arts and Prosocial Impact: RAND Corporation, Self-Determination Theory, 40 Developmental Assets: Search Institute, 21st Century Learning Skills; recently published neuroscience research).
  • Participate in high quality research. We seek opportunities to engage in third party research with major research institutions.
    • Our partnership with Dr. Nina Kraus at Northwestern University and her Auditory Neuroscience Lab has resulted in nine papers published in peer-reviewed journals, showing the neurobiological link between musical training and improved cognitive function, focus, attention, literacy, ability to hear in noise and language processing in children of from low- income families.
  • Supported by extensive media coverage, including CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, PBS NewsHour, NPR, Voice of America, OWN, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine and many others.
  • Access to consulting services, advocacy support, facilitator and operations training, technical assistance and our growing national network through Harmony Project National Division (HPND), our national service organization. This is all provided on a full-scholarship basis to Harmony Project affiliates.
  • Access to centralized database 'Harmony Project in a Box'  that includes programmatic and administrative policies, procedures, forms, templates, assessments and successful grant applications.
  • Access to a standardized data management system (currently being developed) that will enable Harmony Project programs to better manage their programs in real time, track student outcomes over time and tell a more powerful story to prospective municipal, corporate and individual sponsors.