Music Heals International

We envision a world where children engage, achieve and thrive through the power of music. To achieve this, MHI's fundamental goal is to increase children's access to free, quality music education.

The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has created the opportunity to pause and re-examine our strategic goals. Moving forward, we are doubling down on efforts to grow the capacity of our organization and agility of our program model. Three primary goals include:

- The growth of a teacher pipeline that trains advanced students who serve as Peer Mentors to become apprentice teachers. By giving young leaders vocational skills they can use to earn future income, MHI will enrich the youth development opportunities our program provides. Achieving this goal will enable us to expand beyond school-based partnerships and reach out-of-school youth through collaboration with other institutions embedded in the communities where we work. Additionally, it will ensure gender diversity among our music teachers and a committed cohort of young teachers deeply familiar with our program.

- Testing the replicating of our program model in another country through partnership with a local organization.

- Board development and fundraising diversification.

In partnership with J/P Haitian Relief Organization, now known as CORE, and Little Kids Rock, MHI brings music education to schools and communities in Haiti and beyond. Through music education, we not only foster musical interest and ability, but achievement, resilience and creativity. We believe that in a country where 25% of people live in extreme poverty, these strengths and skills are critical to navigating the challenges of life. We help children discover their power, reinforcing school and community engagement, fueling creativity and inciting hope for the future. This transformation in perspective anchors children as they mature, strengthening their resilience in the face of adversity and sustaining their drive to build a better future.

MHI empowers children living with disabilities by connecting them to music, self-expression and their peers. In 2017, one in ten MHI students had a disability. These children are among Haiti’s most vulnerable. They are often stigmatized in their communities and overlooked by mainstream programs designed to promote child development. Through our commitment to enhancing CORE’s inclusive educational model at MHI partner school, Ecole de l’Espoir, we introduced an inclusive approach to teaching music and are bringing tablet-based technology into the classroom to increase accessibility for all children.

MHI offers a unique approach to youth development and community building through music education. We provide opportunities for young leaders to become Peer Mentors and we give students a voice through public concerts that unite people and strengthen community bonds. An important part of our strategy is MHI’s Summer Music Camp, which extends music education to children in the community who lack access and trains Peer Mentors to lead classes.

To enable the growth of our program beyond Haiti, we are partnering with CORE and the Oscar Foundation in India to replicate our model.

To ensure our ability to grow the depth and reach of our program we are expanding awareness of our work, strengthening relationships with existing partners and building partnerships with new ones, and diversifying revenue streams. Our strategy includes: attracting more foundation grants, growing artist relationships, building the Rob Wasserman Memorial Fund, and expanding our individual donor base. In addition to the deep relationships and long-term support of a number of family foundations and individuals, in recent years we have developed new partnerships with grant-makers like the Rex Foundation and Reverb Gives, which awarded MHI instrument donation grants in 2018 and in 2020. We also continue to build relationships with artists who promote MHI’s growth through their time, talent, and Tweets. Artists who have previously performed in annual live benefit concerts include Jackson Browne, Bob Weir, Bonnie Raitt, Lukas Nelson, Colbie Caillet and Paul Beaubrun. With their support we also host auctions of signed instruments at our live events. Finally, MHI has expanded its focus in the last two years to new types of funding initiatives. In 2018, MHI introduced the Rob Wasserman Memorial Fund in honor of Sara’s father, a Grammy-winning bassist and lifelong musician. Jackson Browne generously agreed to be the first supporter and starred in a benefit concert that launched the fund in November 2019. It was an incredible success and generated 30% of MHI’s 2018 annual revenue in two months. This funding has been critical in helping MHI weather the impact COVID-19 has had on our ability to host live benefit concerts- MHI’s main fundraising tool.

As MHI celebrates six years in Haiti, we are amazed by how far we’ve come:

★ We’ve grown from 65 children at two sites to a vibrant music program that has reached more than 800 students across eight sites in Port-au-Prince.

★ Advanced students have formed bands, written over 20 original songs, professionally recorded their music and performed at the Port-au-Prince international jazz festival, PAP Jazz.

★ Through years of technical support from Little Kids Rock our Haitian colleagues have developed the capacity to run teacher training workshops in Haiti and abroad.

★ Little Kids Rock’s Tony Sauza introduced tablets with the GarageBand app to inclusive class teachers, making music more accessible to children living with disabilities.

★ MHI was the first nonprofit that works internationally to win a Reverb Gives instrument grant. This partnership helped us deliver more music to more kids and inspired our advanced students by putting high-quality instruments in their hands.

★ MHI was featured in Don Hardy's short documentary, Fingerprints.