Tuesday, September 29, 2015

“More to Music Initiative” sponsored by the City of Atlanta's Parks and Recreations


      


We are excited to continue our partnership with the City of Atlanta’s Parks and Recreation Department! The partnership allows our organization to facilitate programs targeting “Teens” in the city’s numerous recreation centers. The program is called the “More to Music Initiative” and is FREE to teen participants. Program participants learn about life skills and career options from a diverse group of dedicated professionals including, recording artists, songwriters, entertainment lawyers, record label producers, executives and other industry insiders!
This fall we have partnered with 3 organizations to deliver our 10 week comprehensive program designed to provide direction and opportunity to young people. Starting on September 14th the program will meet on Monday’s and Tuesday’s from 6pm – 8pm. The program will be extremely beneficial to the young people your agency serves. Here is a brief overview of the “More to Music Initiative” program’s components:

Mondays:              Project Egress /Life Skill Coaching (Arthur Powell)
                                Music Business 101 (Ric Ross & James Caldwell)

Tuesdays:              10 Things / College Prep and Readiness (Brandi Hicks)
                                Poems on Paper (Pezo Johnson)


1. Project Egress /Life Skill Coaching (Arthur Powell, Anti-Violence Specialist/Life Skills Coach)

Project Egress mission is to help deprogram youth that have a destructive and rebellious mentality, by educating and warning them of the dangers and consequences that come from truancy, drug usage, fighting, peer pressure, bullying, and gang involvement and teaching them the benefits and rewards of being productive citizens in society.

Project Egress proposed target audience is youth and adults being influenced, intimidated, and threatened by bullying and criminal street gangs. The Bullying and Gang Prevention / Intervention Programs are structured to teach our youth and adults about the dangers of street gangs and provide solutions to build stronger community relationships.

2. Music Business 101 (Ric Ross, Capitol Records & James Caldwell, The Caldwell Group)

The Music Education Group, Inc.’s mission is to teach students life-skills development through music, film and digital media. It was established in direct response to the massive budget cuts that ended music education programs in many Metro Atlanta Public School Systems. The Music Education Group’s programs will:
·         Create awareness and stimulate interest in careers in Entertainment, Digital Media and Technology
·         Keep students excited and engaged in their education which is vital to keeping them in school and preparing them for tomorrow’s challenging and ever changing workforce.
·         Introduce students to career options and related skills at an early age which better prepares them for those careers in the future.
·         Provide students with hands on training from working professionals which improves the odds that they will have a greater understanding of those skills and how to develop them.
·         Teach young people to reduce their risks for unfavorable health outcomes while accelerating opportunities for success in life through the music, film and digital media industries.


3. 10 Things / College Prep and Readiness (Brandi Rae Hicks, MBA, MPA/Sports & Entertainment Nonprofit Consulting)

The mission of “10 Things” workshops help transition students and their families to college and beyond through financial literacy, academic preparedness, and basic life skills.

“10 Things You Need to Complete Your College Application” hosts 10-sessions during the 2015 – 2016 Atlanta Public School year.  There are a series of 3 workshops (fall, winter, and spring semesters) for high school students and their families on how to prepare themselves for college.  There are 3 workbooks in the college preparation series“10 Things” curriculum uses our customized-designed workbooks.

Students will be given a college preparedness survey, and students will be required to complete a pre-test and post-test to evaluate their knowledge of what it takes to get into college.  Student’s identity will remain confidential and results will be shared with COH program staff.  The program will track outcomes and measurements, and will make all summaries available for review.

4. Pain on Paper/P.O.P. (Pezo Johnson, Certified Anger Management Specialist)

The P.O.P Program is a therapeutic youth anger management program that will first open the minds of the teens to give them a sense of where their anger is rooted. Then, it teaches them creative methods to redirect their anger when in a verbal altercation before it becomes physical.  There are (7) methods of the P.O.P. program and it will teach kids to use these methods to turn their pain and anger into song, poem, or rap.  POP methods include the Remote Control, Sponging, Baseline, Silent Chant, Creative Control, Spray It, and Self Release. Some of the biggest rap superstars, like Jay-Z and Lil Wayne, use one of the methods of creating and retaining songs in their head. P.O.P is effective with all children regardless of their background or race because this program has music involved in every POP method. If they have anger management issues, this will help them to make better decision instead of resorting to violence.

The P.O.P. Program aims to give children another outlet for dealing with the stress and difficulties they may face in their everyday lives. The seven method process is something children can practice everyday that can help them with anger management, conflict resolution, and everyday life skills.  The ultimate goal for POP is to teach youth about their anger and use music to help them redirect their anger, frustration, aggression into creative journaling.

If you would like to participate please RSVP your attendance and your student names to James Caldwell at james@wholeteam.com. Our goal is to have students participate in the entire 10 weeks of the program.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to give us a call!

Always,
James Caldwell
Executive Director
(404) 324-2886 cell phone