Voice & Choice: Hip-Hop 101 | Description
Over 15,000 children live in the community surrounding IMPACT Ministries. Over 3000 live in households which are among the most impoverished in Vanderburgh County. Many of the children struggle with behaviors limiting their social, educational and interpersonal growth.
The goal of IMPACT Ministries is to see men, women, and children rise out of situations of generational poverty. The goal of the Music Ministry program is to provide our youth the opportunity to develop significant positive characteristics through relationships with caring adults in an informal setting designed around activities of great interest to the youth.
Chris Blattman, an Assistant Professor of Political Science & Economics at Yale University, referring to his work with street youth, petty criminals and drug-users, suggests they “exhibit extreme levels of impatience, self-control problems, time inconsistency and violence.” He has found that the most effective tools in helping street youth develop legitimate social skills have been through the use of behavior modification, with “highly-prized, positive consequences.”
The opportunity to learn about the artistic and technical aspects of music creation, recording, and production and to ultimately produce a personal recording is very appealing to our youth. We use it as means of building relationships and motivating our kids towards the active pursuit of worthy goals. Participants develop personal characteristics of respect, responsibility, discipline and diligence during through this program.
The IMPACT Music Ministry program teaches youth the essentials of music creation, recording, and production. Hip-hop artist, Sean Little, leads the training while developing personal relationships with the youth. After completing the required assignments, participants spend individual time in the professional-quality studio.
Although, there is no cost to the participants; the cost to IMPACT to provide this program is $10 per student per session. The total cost for an average of 20 students over a period of four to six months is $8650.
