Education United States Project #65011

Bring Music to Daycares, Preschools, and Libraries

by Guitars in the Classroom

Bring Music to Daycares, Preschools, and Libraries

Project Report | Apr 6, 2026
Libraries, Head Starts & Preschools, Here We Come!

By Jess Baron | Executive Director

Families Learn Together with Uke Can Read!

Dear Supporter,

Thank you so much for having a heart for young children. Your donations launched this new campaign, and I am grateful you jumped in with your gift. It's gratifying the be able to share with you the progress that is taking place. Last week, we received a $10,000 grant from the Dr. Suess Foundation to continue this work! We also got a $1000 donation from the San Diego County Employees Association to supply each of 16 Head Start programs with a new Waterman ukulele. Watermans are perfect for working in early childhood because they are indestructible and easy to clean. Thanks to that grant and an educational discount from Kala Brand Music, little ones will have colorful new ukes to play.

In more good new, our local library program, Uke Can Read!, has been attracting families to the Serra Mesa Library, where Reagan Duncan, GITC teaching artist, has been helping parents and children practice language and early literacy skills through song. The photo shows you that the parents and caregivers are also learning to sing and play ukulele with their children. This is just the ticket to creating sustainable music at home. It also dramatically improves language and literacy skills! Please check out the research studies in this report.

Many of today's parents grew up in poverty, or living very close to the edge. I have heard countless stories of musical deprivation and longing from adults who did not get a chance to learn to play an instrument when they were young. In hard times, music lessons are typically viewed as an "extra" when competing in a family budget for covering basic needs. Private lessons in general are very expensive. Instruments are an investment.

For families struggling to make ends meet today, music can easly fall by the wayside unless it is funded through public schools, or through community projects like ours. But in the current economy and political climate, both of those pathways are narrowing. If falls to caring individuals to make the difference in keeping music alive and accessible. Thank you for stepping up!

I attended the event last Saturday and spoke with a mother who had driven her kindergarten child, Yalong, a far distance to Serra Mesa in order to give him musical learning and literacy support. She and her child are Taiwanese. For Mom, English is a second language. For her child who hears and speaks two very different languages at home and at school, music is an engaging and joyful way to further his skills in English. Mom's own childhood story of musical deprivation was very familiar to me. But because she has access to music through this program, she is filled with joy!

Now these two come to the library every Saturday and are learning to sing, play, and read together. Their gratitude is IMMENSE. Thank you very much for helping to make this possible.

I hope hearing the story and seeing the photo give you a sense of pride in what your kindness has made possible for others.

With gratitude,

Jess

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Dec 4, 2025
Bringing Teacher Training to Remote Communities

By Jess Baron | Executive Director

Teachers in Training at Southwestern College!

Dear Friend,

We have a great story to report!

As you know, early childhood educators work long hours for meager pay. They must show up for the children in their care in order to build trust and knowledge. The workday is demanding, and there are so few opportunities to receive professional development. But our model and this program are making a difference for the teachers by reducing barriers to participation, including improving the proximity of training, and by funding instruments so children can begin to participate in playing an instrument.

With the cost of gas just under $5 per gallon, and the time it takes to travel by bus being easily twice the drive time, placing programs around the county in accessible locations is helping more educators participate in regular training by saving them precious time and dollars. Now many are finding their way to learning to make and lead music for young children. For the early childhood educators who drive over an hour each way to get to and from training, making this shift to remote training is imperative in the current economy.

Providing free instruments is also critical to everyone's success. Learning to lead is 3/4 or the process and getting ukuleles and adaptive supplies to help little hands play is the final step!

Centers can barely cover basic supplies. Instruments are expensive. So this grant is a part of the solution. With help from CECO, children in hard to reach neighborhoods are receiving musical beginnings with their everyday teachers and care providers.

This September, after a year of correspondences and meetings, GITC was finally able to begin training early childhood educators in person at Southwestern Community College (SWC) in Chula Vista, having been approved by their board of trustees. This border-region college is accessible and affordable for students in financial need, and in addition, it serves as a community hub. SWC’s Child, Family and Education Studies program and their amazing Childhood Development Center have been hosting our weekly classes taught by GITC teaching artist Julia Cole on a grant from the California Arts Council. The grant included wages but not instruments. We raised individual donations to supply all participating teachers with their own Waterman ukuleles. Next they need class sets, just like the ones requested in this grant, and we received a donation to help bring ukes to them next week when they graduate.

The SWC class filled quickly, and the immediately positive impact in participating teachers’ classrooms has been shared weekly. The teachers report children are happier, more focused, cooperative, and brave in sharing their thoughts and feelings. In fact, SWC CDC teacher Jeannine Venegas just appeared with our founder, Jess Baron in an interview on Spotlight on the Community, sharing about music’s impact on her students.

2 weeks after starting the ECE music leadership course at SWC, GITC also launched a 10 hour course through the San DIego County Office of Education (SDCOE), located in Linda Vista. 37 Early childhood educators serving from San Ysidro, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, and National City in the south to Ramona, San Marcos, Vista, and Oceanside in the north registered.

We announced the SWC class during the final SDCOE workshop, and a number of teachers from the southern region requested permission to immediately join the SWC class. One week later, they were admitted, and they have been attending every week, ever since. They are all graduating together on Giving Tuesday! Please donate to our campaign today, so each one can be awarded a small set of ukuleles for their students to share! These 23 teachers will reach almost 500 children with music each day.

With your charitable contribution, together we can create a new story of success, of teachers supported, and children’s lives changed through the power of love and music. Thank you for making musical access a reality for thee very deserving kids and teachers. They need our help, and you are an important part of the GITC team!

With appreciation and gratitude,

Jess

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