Progressions is an El Sistema-based and culturally responsive music and youth development program that is all about changing lives by helping low-income, at-promise youth in our community identify, cultivate and celebrate their gifts through music education and performance.

An evidence-based program, Progressions uses music to connect with students, challenge them with a rigorous music education, help them build a pro-social community and stays with them through eighth grade. The program’s mission is to narrow the opportunity gap for at-promise students, expand equitable access to the arts for all, and advocating for music education as a necessary core subject for a well-rounded and inclusive 21st-century education.

In the first six months of the 2019-20 school year, we reached 1,000 students in six Title 1 school sites in the Franklin-McKinley School District with instrument training, ensembles, homework support and mentoring.

The Covid-19 pandemic closed schools but we continued to work with our students via home learning packets, videos and online events. 

In the 2022-23 school year, Progressions is again providing school-wide general music and in-person programs to more than 900 students at multiple Title I school sites in the Franklin-McKinley School District. This year, the training includes work in songwriting and film music via GarageBand and ensembles that include virtual, computer-generated music-making devices and play-along videos instruction.

Progressions has received a 2-year grant from the California Arts Council supporting our work with a Creative Youth Development grant. With this funding, we continue our mission of incorporating creative youth development elements through music education as a powerful strategy towards equity in arts and education alike.

– Magdelena Moore, Jeanne R. Meadows Elementary Principal