Mosh For Youth- Heavy Music for Education

Income inequality

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

I am very familiar with the inequities that come in education. I am a product of the Pomona Unified School District myself and the pursuit of college was often halted because of financial constraints. I know, firsthand, that scholarships weren't always accessible for me and that in order to pursue college, loans were inevitable. Additionally, I taught high school Ethnic Studies in an East LA school (Esperanza College Prep) for 4 years. These students faced similar challenges. I chose these two communities because I have personally seen the potential that the students have in achieving great things that can create positive multigenerational change. Their drive and ambition is there, however, the resources are not. The students from these communities deserve the chance to choose a 4 year university without having to be blocked by their family's financial constraints or be shackled by the broken student loan system.

Each event that we host comes with a price. So far, we've been able to give $22,000 in scholarship awards to 6 students of East LA and Pomona. However, if it weren't for the cost of the events, we would have been able to give more. Stage, tent, water, equipment, security, media, merchandise, and band expenses all come with a price that take about 50% of would-be scholarship money. Currently, my organization does not pay any of its members, including myself and does not plan to do so for the foreseeable future to maximize the amount of money that goes directly towards education and ending income inequality. This grant will elevate the amount of money that will go directly into our mission.

The power of education is undeniable. Currently, the cities of East LA and Pomona have lower college attainment rates than the state average. Both East LA and Pomona have college attainment rates below 20% while the state average are above 30%. If we look at more affluent cities like Beverly Hills (college attainment rate above 60%) or Pasadena (college attainment rate above 50%), we see the disparities even more. These college attainment rates reduce even more if we narrow the statistics observing families who are below the poverty line in the communities that we serve. If the work that we are Mosh For Youth is successful and we are able to scale the scholarship money to a much bigger scale, we can work towards diminishing the financial barriers and close these disparities in our communities. By closing these disparities, we will find ourselves in a more equitable Los Angeles.

Although this organization is in its early stages, we will use the measure that other education institutions use to measure success. If students graduate from their 4-year institution within 6 years, we believe that we are successful. We have yearly communication with our awardees to follow up on their educational status and to provide as much additional virtual support as possible.