Jazz Empowers

Jazz Empowers was started in 2015 when we noticed that many underserved charter schools in Nashville were not offering instrumental music to their students. Unfortunately, this lack of access to music education is prevalent in public charter schools nationwide. 61% of all middle and high school public charter schools in the United States do not have a music program. We believe this is a systemic issue that needs to be addressed due to the fact that a significant portion of public charter schools serve a high proportion of students growing up in poverty. It is an issue of equity - making sure that all students have access to quality music education despite their socio-economic status. Jazz Empowers is a national nonprofit organization with the mission to transform the lives of youth in underserved schools through jazz education. We fulfill this mission by partnering with underserved schools across the country to start and develop jazz programs at their school. Jazz Empowers currently serves K-12 students in 670 underserved schools across 45 states.