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Dear Friends,

Happy holidays and thanks to all who’ve carried Music National Service and the launch of MusicianCorps through 2009. Today, 21 MusicianCorps Fellows –– trained, talented musicians and community service leaders –– are providing consistent music education and programming in four cities for 2,800 underserved youth and other high-need populations. MusicianCorps is currently meeting needs at twenty-six public schools, seven parks and recreation centers, two public housing communities, four hospitals, two hospice homes and ten community based organizations.

Please contribute now to support MusicianCorps Fellows like Vernon Lloyd a conservatory-trained, multi-instrumentalist, who's returned to Davis Square Park in his Chicago neighborhood to create a children’s band across gang lines; Amos Miller, MC/Producer, who recently worked with his Pacific Islander students at Seattle's Foster High to write and record a song about the tragic Tsunami that flooded their communities; Rebecca Crenshaw, violist and former AmeriCorps volunteer, who raised $1350 toward instruments for a new string program she's leading at Crocker Elementary in New Orleans; and Samuel Russell, a jazz / gospel keyboard player and drummer, who helps grieving families and individuals every week at Pathways hospice in the SF/Oakland Bay Area.

Continued strong interest from cities and schools as well as recent media coverage about the “urban musical peace corps” (“Music ed program has big impact in schools," "Music soothes the sick, comforts the bedridden" and more coverage) coincides with new data about the positive impacts of music in schools, health care settings and communities (NYT, Philanthropy Journal, WSJ). MusicianCorps is a low-cost, high-impact strategy that brings music to those who need it most: children and youth, the elderly, veterans, people with disabilities and others.

Join the Music National Service Movement Blog where we share ideas, highlight innovative music programs and follow MC Fellows like Lenny, Bob, and Jovia. Get on board with our Facebook Cause, and please become a part of our donor community!

Everyone can serve. Everyone deserves music. Please support Music National Service. 

Warm regards,

Kiff Gallagher
CEO and Founder
Music National Service

Background: MusicianCorps, a domestic “musical Peace Corps,” brings music into public schools and other high-need institutional and community settings. Currently serving in Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco/ Oakland Bay Area, and Seattle, MusicianCorps Fellows receive a modest living stipend, professional development, and health care in exchange for a year of full-time service. MusicianCorps is a program of Music National Service (MNS), a national nonprofit organization [501(c)3] that combines music and volunteerism to address important social and educational needs.

MusicianCorps was named “1 of 10 nonprofit innovations that will strengthen U.S. communities” by the Aspen Institute. Bi-partisan congressional supporters of MusicianCorps passed the “Musician and Artist Corps Amendment” in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. MusicianCorps has a broad base of partners, including the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Corporation for National Service as well as local school districts, hospitals, corporations and community-based organizations. TIME magazine “2009 Top Innovator” OrigAudio supports Music National Service over the holidays.

contact@musicnationalservice.org