• Description     • Criteria       • Little Kids Rock

The Kenneth A. Picerne Foundation's Social Entrepreneur Fund provides assistance to organizations like Little Kids Rock. The Social Entrepreneur: David Wish Little Kids Rock (LKR) formally became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2002. However, the roots of the program date back to 1996 when elementary school teacher David Wish began giving free guitar lessons to his students. Borrowing from friends and scouring area flea markets for instruments, David developed a music education curriculum gleaned from the best influences that informed his own playing. It immediately captured the students’ interest because it had them playing, within minutes of teaching, the types of music they listened to, and enabled them to improvise and compose freely around a basic network of ideas and skills. Soon he began to train other volunteer teachers, and in five years, the project grew exponentially. As many other cities drastically cut their school budgets, the mission became clear: he left teaching to focus on developing this initiative. Since then, Little Kids Rock has since expanded from serving 500 students in the San Francisco Bay Area to serving more than 74,000 low-income public school students in ten states and the District of Columbia. Today, LKR continues to revitalize public school music education by both restoring music programs in communities that do not have programs and by pioneering new methodologies that revolutionize how music is taught. The Little Kids Rock approach makes the program relevant to the lives of the students in each class by utilizing popular instruments such as guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, and focusing on popular music styles. LKR works within the urban public school system by training volunteer teachers to offer music instruction in both after-school and classroom formats. To make programs more accessible, LKR provides the instruments, training, and lessons to teachers at no cost. Teaching students to compose their own music and work together in groups is a large part of the curriculum. The benefits of musical education go far beyond learning to play an instrument. Research has indicated the positive relationship of music programs and school attendance as well as social, cognitive, and behavioral development. Over 500 LKR trained teachers are now teaching students across the United States. LKR programs have proven to be reproducible and the team is creating the infrastructure that will enable the program to expand. In addition to its music programs, Little Kids Rock broadcasts music lessons at its online TV station at www.littlekidsrock.tv. LKR lessons are also available on iTunes U. For more information about LKR go to www.littlekidsrock.org