C37DC49C-F25F-46D8-A1C8-2F6F49D55BF4 Created with sketchtool. FIND A STORE +
Immersive Music Challenge

Immersive Music Challenge

We are challenging high-poverty schools to implement music-based mentoring programs to boost reading & math achievement, and improve the health of children & communities.

THE PROBLEM

 In 2019, only 37% of U.S. 12th graders could read proficiently; only 40% were proficient in math. Poor reading and math comprehension limit a student’s ability to learn, to earn, and to effectively parent future children of their own. Poor reading and math skills underlie every form of social inequity. The pandemic made things worse; it led to widespread learning loss and increased students’ anxiety, depression, and social isolation, putting our students into crisis.

   


How can we give our students the support they need?

THE BOLD SOLUTION IS MUSIC-BASED MENTORING THROUGHOUT CHILDHOOD

  


HERE ARE THE FACTS

See: Holbrook, et al (2022), Music-Based Mentoring and Academic Improvement in High-Poverty Elementary Schools, Journal of Youth Development 

   


PRACTICE BUILDS COMPETENCE
AND CONFIDENCE

 

Music instruction + mentoring, multiple days per week,
enables students to overcome the challenges of
learning to make music - together with their friends.

 


JOIN OUR MISSION

 

The D'Addario Foundation will help school districts and charter systems throughout the country implement effective music-based mentoring programs.


BE AN INSTRUMENT OF CHANGE

There is nothing more fundamental than education and mental health.
Invest in a solution that improves both. Support music-based mentoring in
our nation’s schools. Boost literacy, academic achievement, and positive social connection
for ALL our children through the power of music.

 

CONTRIBUTE

   

LEADERSHIP

Experts in the field of public health, music education, neuroscience, data evaluation and school district management have come together to support this challenge.

   

picture of Margaret Martin

Margaret Martin, DrPH, MPH

will lead the Immersive Music Challenge, with the full support of the staff and Directors of the D’Addario Foundation. Dr. Martin is a UCLA-trained doctor of public health. She received the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2011 from President Barack Obama for founding Harmony Project, a high-performing D’Addario Foundation music program grantee. Dr. Martin has facilitated countless studies, including much of the research that inspired the Immersive Music Challenge, and has been a D'Addario Foundation Director since 2016.

heart icon

Ruth Perez Ashley

Owner
Ashley Consulting for Educational Services, LLC.

Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services (retired)
Long Beach Unified School District

heart icon

Hannah Holbrook, PhD

Clinical Psychologist and Statistician

Lead author of the implementation research article which inspired the establishment of the IMC

heart icon

Ashley Salinas

Former Music Director
Harmony Project

Implementation Partners

heart icon

Miriam Goldberg Owens

President & Chief Executive Officer
The People’s Music School 

heart icon

Natalie Butler

Dean of Learning & Teaching
The People's Music School

heart icon

Karen Louis

Executive Director
Neighborhood Music School

heart icon

Sommer Dawson

Executive Director
Accent Pontiac

JOIN US IN MAKING
THE FUTURE SOUND BETTER

CONTRIBUTE

 


Scholarship Program

foundation scholarship promotion

By helping pay for college, we empower the brightest individuals to become who they were always destined to be.

Learn more

ROUND-UP PROGRAM

girl holding violin

You can now donate the spare change from your everyday credit or debit card purchases by joining the D’Addario Foundation’s Round-Up Program.

SIGN UP