NBC10, Telemundo62, and the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation recently announced $225,000 in unrestricted local impact grants awarded to several nonprofits. Among the awardees is Trenton Music Makers, Inc., which will receive $25,000 to help support its Orchestra program next year, with diverse teaching faculty and guest artists, program materials, field trips, performance costs, and subsidizing family participation.
As part of the El Sistema movement in the United States, Trenton Music Makers uses music as a platform for social change. The group gathers at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Monday through Friday, to work on violin, viola, cello, and bass skills in studio sectionals, develop reading, improvisation, and musicianship, learn percussion, collective composition, and music production, all the while building collaboration skills, peer leadership and learning the value of a shared struggle. They perform in public regularly and join twice yearly with the El Sistema NJ Alliance member organizations, playing and celebrating together as an orchestra of over 250.
Orchestra members work with professional teaching artists, and they receive their instruments for the year to play in the program and take home to practice. Our diverse teaching artist team includes master teachers, freelance musicians, recent college graduates, and music teachers hired from the Trenton Public School district. Their various strengths are a winning combination that serves the children’s musical and social development in an unparalleled manner.
NBCUniversal Local Impact Grant-winning organizations are addressing the needs of their diverse local communities through the lenses of one of three grant categories, Next Generation Storytellers, Youth Education & Empowerment, and Community Engagement. Other recent awardees include Immigration Law & Justice of the Delaware Valley (FKA Justice For our Neighbors); ACE Mentor Program of Greater Philadelphia (FKA ACE Mentor Program of America, Inc); Unemployment Information Center; Acting Without Boundaries; Rock to The Future; and YoungMoms.
“NBC10 and Telemundo62 are proud to recognize the outstanding work of seven local non-profit organizations with unrestricted funding from the NBCUniversal Local Impact Grants,” said Ric Harris, President and General Manager of NBC Local Philadelphia. “We are committed to responding to the needs of our community. Each of these seven grant recipients is helping to make a meaningful impact in the communities we serve, which ultimately helps us build stronger communities.”
Early this year, NBC10, Telemundo62, and the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation announced the rebranding of their grant program from “Project Innovation” to “NBCUniversal Local Impact Grants,” reflecting its local grassroots focus.
For a list of NBCUniversal Local Impact Grants winners, click here. Follow on social media at @NBCUFoundation and #LocalImpactGrants.
