Little Kids Rock

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:

Deborah Grant

Little Kids Rock

Work: (973) 746-8248

deborah@littlekidsrock.org

Donation made possible through generous grant from YAHOO! Employee Foundation

• What: Little Kids Rock is hosting a free workshop for volunteer teachers.

• When: April 25 - 26, 10 am – 4 pm

• Where: YMCA Embarcadero, 169 Steuart Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 957-9622

• Why It Matters: This free workshop will provide instruments, a curriculum and the resources to successfully implement the Little Kids Rock program into four new Bay Area school districts: San Francisco Unified, Oakland Unified, West Contra Costa Unified, and Ravenswood City School District.

• Media are invited to attend the two-day workshop.

San Francisco, Calif., Apr. 22, 2009 — Little Kids Rock, a national non-profit music program that provides free instruments and instruction for students in underfunded public schools, announced today that it will host a free workshop that will expand Little Kids Rock’s program to four new school districts in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Little Kids Rock will supply 300 brand-new guitars, train 26 teachers, and provide the lifelong gift of music education to hundreds of low-income students in the districts.

Little Kids Rock will offer a free, two-day teacher workshop for San Francisco Bay Area teachers who have applied to bring the program into their schools. Teachers who complete the workshop may begin leading classes shortly thereafter.

Funding from the YAHOO! Employee Foundation, a donor advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, as part of its commitment to education and the arts, has made Little Kids Rock's program in San Francisco Bay Area schools possible this year.

Participating San Francisco Bay Area schools include: Lighthouse Community High School, Millsmont Academy, Prescott Elementary, Berkley Maynard Academy, Revere Elementary, East Palo Alto Charter School, Lawton Alternative Elementary, North Campus Continuation High School, Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy, Leadership High School, San Francisco Community and Mission High School.

About Little Kids Rock:

Little Kids Rock is a 501.(c) (3) nonprofit organization that transforms children’s lives by restoring and revitalizing music education in our nation’s public schools. Little Kids Rock was founded in San Francisco in 1996 by David Wish, an elementary school teacher who had grown frustrated with the lack of music education funding at his school. Wish started offering an after-school guitar class to his students. What began as an informal project led by a handful of volunteers has since catapulted onto the national stage: today, Little Kids Rock is one of the leading providers of free instruments in the US, serving more than 40,000 underserved students acros the nation. Little Kids Rock teaches kids how to play the music they love: pop, rock, reggae, funk, blues, rap and hip-hop music. Little Kids Rock students not only perform, but they also compose and record their own music. Little Kids Rock Honorary Board Members include Bonnie Raitt, Slash, Paul Simon, B.B. King, Ziggy Marley, Les Paul and other famous friends in the music industry. More information can be found at: www.littlekidsrock.org.

Note to Media: Interviews with spokespeople and b-roll available upon request.

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