Music changes lives. This year, I am a Champion supporting Guitars Over Guns in their mission to empower youth through music and mentorship. In January 2024, Guitars Over Guns launched a pilot program at two middle schools in Harlem where 34% of children live at or below the poverty line and where $1.4 million was cut from the state budget for after-school programs.

Guitars Over Guns is here to shift how young people think about the world and their place in it.  By sharing skills and experience, rooted in our common passion for music, we inspire our students to see a future that’s filled with potential – and help them get excited and be accountable.

We cultivate an enriching community bound by the arts, united by community-based performances, and powered by high-quality instruction. Inspired by meaningful connections between professional musicians and our community’s youth, kids find new possibility. Time and time again we have seen how the world changes when people find their voices and have the opportunity to be heard. Guitars Over Guns makes that happen.

By contributing you’ll help us continue to grow and reach even more students at even more locations around the city. Youth development is not only important now. It is important now, because it is our future.