Guitars for Kids

The last few months have been some of the toughest we've ever experienced. Donations to charitable organisations have been dropping at an alarming rate since the global economic recession began in 2008. More recently in Ireland there is a severe and growing lack of trust and confidence in the charity sector due to the behaviour of some of the larger organisations and their salary and bonus payments.

The Musical Youth Foundation is absolutely committed to transparency at every level and we welcome and queries members of the public may have. Furthermore our annual accounts are available to anyone who visits our website.

The next few weeks are crucial on our ongoing development; we urgently need to raise much needed funds to ensure our vital Music Education programmes can continue to make a real and lasting difference to at-risk young people in Ireland. The MYF currently helps 100 young people, many of whom are currently sitting their Leaving Certificate Exams - something that for many would not have been possible had they not become involved with the Musical Youth Foundation and our successful Music Education programmes.

We are very proud of each and every MYF student who has been working so hard this year to prepare for exams while continuing to improve their guitar playing skills. We're starting to see many of the older young people begin to collaborate with others to create new original music. There are new bands forming, jam sessions are a twice weekly occurrence and there's a list of new beginners eager to join our guitars for kid’s programmes across all seven locations currently active in the community.

In order for us to be able to help these young people by providing them with access to free professional music education we desperately need your support. Donations have been hit hard and we've got just a couple of months left over the summer to raise the funds needed to ensure all our programmes can continue after the school summer break.

Can you help to make a real and lasting difference in a young child’s life? Help them stay in school by growing their self-esteem and confidence. Your donation can and will make a difference.

The Musical Youth Foundation is committed to helping at-risk young people access music education and all its many associated benefits! Over the last 4 years we've witnessed first-hand the impact music and music education can have on young people.  So many young people grow up with an unfair disadvantage because they happened to be born in a socially deprived area where unemployment and anti-social behaviour are real and common everyday problems. This might seem alien to you and if so you are one of the lucky ones. After all, not a one of us gets to choose our parents or the home we are born into!

Do you remember your school sports day? Perhaps you got to compete against fellow classmates in a 100 meter sprint, perhaps you even won the race!? Well now imagine you're back at the starting line of that race only this time you are blindfolded, with no running shoes and have a rucksack full of rocks on your back - chances are you'll come last if you even finish at all.

That is what it is like for the young people the Musical Youth Foundation is striving to assist. More often than not there is no one cheering them on or offering encouragement and support from the side lines. It is no wonder so many at-risk young people fail to stay in school, after all how many of us would have stayed in school willingly had it not been for the insistence and support of our families? Without a fully rounded education how can we expect young people to grow up to become fully functional members of our society contributing socially and economically for the overall good?

The current school drop-out rate is estimated by the Teachers Union of Ireland to be at about 20% nationally and considerably higher in urban areas. That’s about 10,000 young people per year that don’t complete the Leaving Certificate exams. Conservative estimates show that over half of these young people (5,000) will inevitably end up dependent on the state. The cost of an unemployed person per year to the Exchequer in terms of social welfare payments and loss of taxation income is €20,000. Over a 40-year working period that amounts to €800,000. When that figure is multiplied by the number of each group of students dependent on the State (5,000) the cost per group is €4bn.

While it may be crude to think of our young people as a “cost centre” the financial impact can’t be ignored. More worryingly is the fact that the education system for one reason or another is failing so many young people and condemning them to a life living on or even below the poverty line with many turning to anti-social behaviour and criminal activity to survive. It is a vicious cycle that if left un-broken will continue to perpetuate the problem for generation after generation to come!

This is why it is so important that we provide opportunities, encouragement and support to all our nations young people so that they may grow up to achieve their full potential!

With your donations the Musical Youth Foundation can continue to work on your behalf to ensure at-risk young people are given  equal opportunities.

Donations have been few and far between since our last report, though we did get an anonymous donation of €222. so to that generous anonymous donor we say THANK YOU! Your contribution will go towards the cost of professional music lessons for at-risk young people participating in our guitars for kids programmes in inner city Dublin. We currently have 100 children across 8 Community Centres that are benefiting from our specialist music education workshops.

Can you afford to make a donation, no matter how small to help the Musical Youth Foundation impact young people?

To find out more about what we do visit our website or feel free to email our Founder & CEO Chris Maher with any queries you may have! Email: info@musicalyouthfoundation.org

Links:

• Musical Youth Foundation Online