FEBRUARY, 2010 UPDATE

Holiday Instrument Drive Update:
Thank you to everyone who participated in our holiday instrument drive.  We were able to raise over $2,000 of cash and instruments during the month of December!  We received a new PA, guitars, a drum set (well almost a whole drum set anyway… snare stand or hi-hat cymbals anyone?), microphones, headphones, a laptop, drum-sticks, guitar-strings, capo’s, chords and more.  Thanks again to everyone who helped by making a donation during our instrument drive.   And remember, we are always in need of more instruments as we love to loan them out to the youth we work with. 

Program Update:
2010 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for My Voice Music.  We are happy to be continuing our partnerships with p:ear and Christie Care this year and are looking forward to expanding our reach as well.  We plan to work with over 140 youth in 2010!  

Some of our new partnerships include working with PDXPopNow!’s outreach program at Parkrose Middle School and running classes at the Miller Education East’s Connect Program.

We hope to facilitate a series of summer camps for foster youth, as well as launch our year round mentorship program this summer.  This, of course, will depend on our ability to raise the necessary funding. 

You can help us with this.   Here are a few ways:

Share what we are doing with your friends and family by sharing our website with them and joining us on facebook twitter. 

Join our email list

Help sustain our mission by pledging to give a monthly donation to My Voice Music.

Make a one time donation. 

NOVEMBER, 2009 UPDATE

We are excited to announce that MVM recently received our first grant! It was a gift from The Bildung Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation in order to help fund our partnership with p:ear. Please visit our showcase page in order to hear some of the songs recently recorded at p:ear. Additionally, we would like to thank the Steamfitters and Plumbers Union, Local UA290, as well as, the Holmes family for their generous donations this past month.

A special thank you goes out to the Portland State Piano Club. They will be hosting a c.d. release party/concert that will benefit My Voice Music. The concert will be held on Thursday December 17, 2009, 7:00pm at Sherman Clay/Moe's Pianos. Please click the link for more details. PSU Piano Club Concert Benefiting MVM.

HOLIDAY INSTRUMENT DRIVE:

This Holiday season we are asking the community to help us meet our goal of acquiring instruments needed to run our programs for the next year. Additionally, all cash donations in the month of December will go towards the purchase of instruments. Please visit our donations page for details.

NOVEMBER, 2009 - FIRST ANNIVERSARY PARTY WAS A GREAT SUCCESS!

Thanks to everyone who made it out to our 1st Anniversary Fundraiser. We are so excited that we had the opportunity to share what My Voice Music is about with all of you. It was a great night for us and we hope you enjoyed it as well.

A special thank you goes out to Rumblefish Music for offering their beautiful space, and to Colin Lake for his great performance, as well as, to everyone who donated their time, resources and money to help make the night a great success.

Oct. 3rd served not only as an anniversary party, but also as a fundraiser. We raised over $3,300 at the event! All of that money will go directly to support the five music programs we have recently launched around the community. Thanks again to everyone who was able to make it out and support us!

If you weren't able to make it out to our 1st Anniversary and would still like to donate, please click the following link: donation page.

OCTOBER, 2009 - PROGRAM UPDATE

We have launched two more programs through a recent partnership with Christie Care! Christie Care "creates and delivers mental health solutions that promote enriched, full lives for children and families." These programs will focus on adolescent youth, as well as, transition age (18-24 year olds).

The addition of these two programs will have us running a total of five weekly programs, serving over 50 youth at three different organizations around Portland: p:ear, The Parry Center and Christie Care. For the rest of the year we will be focusing on these five programs exclusively and attempting to secure permanent funding for them.

Looking forward ~ preparing to launch our mentorship programs in early 2010...click below to read more about our mentorship programs.

Read more >>

SEPTEMBER, 2009 - PROGRAM UPDATE

PROGRAMS BEGINNING THE PARRY CENTER FOR CHILDREN!
We are excited to announce that on September 14th, My Voice Music will begin running two music programs at the Parry Center, a part of Trillium Family Services. “Trillium Family Services, a nonprofit organization, is the leading provider of mental and behavioral health treatment for Oregon's most vulnerable children.” - www.trilliumfamily.org.

MVM will host “Rock the Mic!” programs for youth ages 8 - 12 and 13 - 17. These programs are designed to engage hard to reach youth through pop music and encourages them to work with others while they find their own voice. By the end of our “Rock the Mic!” program, youth will have learned basic music concepts, written, recorded, and performed their own song, and shared it with their community! Most importantly, they will have experienced success and had a positive experience in the midst of what could be one of the most difficult times in their lives.

AUGUST, 2009 - PROGRAM UPDATE

PROGRAMS TO EXPAND THIS FALL!

For the past year we have been developing our business plan/image, submitting information to the IRS, acquiring insurance and generally doing lots of paper work. This is in sharp contrast to years before when I was able to run our pilot programs in public schools and treatment centers year round. I am very excited to be building relationships with organizations around the Portland area in order to begin expanding our programs in the fall...in fact I can't wait!

WELCOME WADE ROUSE!

We are excited to announce that Wade Rouse has moved all the way from Iowa in order to join the My Voice Music team. Wade has worked for Outward Bound and Albertina Kerr Centers. He has a genuine love for creating, listening to, talking about and teaching music. He has joined My Voice Music with an eagerness to raise funds and in-kind donations, run music programs with the youth we serve. Wade has a B. A. in Communications from the University of Iowa.

PARTNERSHIPS!

We have recently formed a partnership with Portland Music Company on MLK and Stark. They will be providing a drop-off location for our instrument donation program. For more information on this program go to our donations page! Other notable partnerships we have developed include: a partnership with, Rumblefish Music, who has agreed to provide space for our first fundraising event, as well as; p:ear, The Parry Center and Christie Care.

MARCH, 2009 - PROGRAM UPDATE

501(C)(3) FEDERAL TAX EXEMPT STATUS!!!

We received our 501(c)(3) tax exempt status today, just 24 days after I sent it in the mail to the IRS! A special thanks goes to Peter Vaugn Shaver, the amazing attorney/owner of Sound Advice LLC, who guided us through the IRS approval process.

JANUARY, 2009 - PROGRAM UPDATE

"THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY"
The Good - We recently received a donation of a laptop computer, which will be used for all sorts of cool things like office work and recording several of the youth participating in our various programs.

We sold the donated Dodge Durango!! Funds will be used to purchase much needed equipment.

MVM begins their partnership with p:ear in order to facilitate a music program, which begins February 1, 2009.

Our submission for tax-exempt status will be filed February 1, 2009.

The Bad - Our 70 page submission for tax-exempt status is being held hostage in a uncooperative hard drive. No need for worry - Ian is currently retyping all 70 pages and assures us he will meet the deadline.

The Ugly - see above.

NOVEMBER, 2008 - PROGRAM UPDATE

MVM Recognized by Portland Mayor, Tom Potter, as being "among those non-profits who have greately contributed to bringing music back into the lives of the next generation."

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