Kids in a New Groove Changing the Lives of Texas Foster Kids

I first met Karyn Scott this past May while attending a training course for her non-profit organization, Kids in a New Groove. With a contagious smile and welcoming demeanor, she explained her passion for helping foster children through the gift of music mentorship, and how the program had developed.

Throughout her career as a prosecutor, she witnessed countless numbers of foster youth being subjected to the constant instabilities of the legal system. They would switch homes, schools, families, and friends at what often seemed like the drop of a hat.

I, myself, had developed a familiarity with this situation over the previous couple of years, which is what ultimately led me to Kids in a New Groove. Their mission is simple: provide Texas foster children with an element of stability in their lives that is desperately needed to develop their confidence and strategies for life-long success.

Kids in a New Groove achieves their mission through private, one-on-one music instruction. Lessons are held wherever the child may live – be it with a foster family or in a group foster home. When the child moves, so can the volunteer, right along with them. By adjusting to foster kids’ lives, rather than the other way around, Kids in a New Groove has found a way to provide them with something they can hold on to and value, without the fear of it disappearing overnight.

I was fortunate enough to have two stable parents growing up, and I remember still how much music played a part in my well-being. It spoke to me when no one else could. I can only imagine the effect it has on these kids, along with the countless rewards of personal mentorship, which I’m only now beginning to see from the other side through wonderful organizations like Kids in a New Groove.

Kids in a New Groove offers a variety of lessons: guitar, voice, percussion, piano, clarinet – and that’s only naming a few. Not only are the children given the opportunity to meet with a music mentor once a week, but they also perform in an annual recital, can earn their own instruments, and are given the chance to make live recordings in a professional recording studio.

If you have time to spare and are musically gifted in some way, please give Kids in a New Groove a look. I promise you will get more than what you give,  and you’ll be a part of changing the lives of our Texas foster children for the better. For more information on Kids in a New Groove, check out the video below.

 

@mattchampionatx asks:

What do you think of Kids in a New Groove and their mission?