When searching for cities to compare to Hartford, our major goal was to find cities that were of similar sizes and had similar racial, ethnic, and economic demographics to Hartford. This means that they were typically looking at cities (or city areas in the case of the Bronx) with a high proportion of Hispanic identifying and Black individuals, a higher than average portion of people living in poverty, a low median income compared to the national average, and a higher than average portion of foreign born individuals.
The United States, as a whole, is 19.1% Hispanic and 13.6% Black, 11.9% of all Americans are in poverty, 13.5% are foreign-born, and the median income is $75,149 (US Census, 2023). On the other hand, Hartford is 46.1% Hispanic and 36.1% Black, 26.9% of the city is living in poverty, 21.2% of the city is foreign-born, and the average median household income is $41,841 (US Census, 2023). It is clear that Hartford differs greatly from national averages in these particular categories, making Hartford’s situation in regards to how music education exists within the city just as unique as it is. The cities that were chosen represent a similar mix of these attributes and allow for us to analyze how organizations use these different unique attributes to make a music program that is successful for their community.
We have compiled a number of cities across the Northeast United States that represent similar demographics as Hartford in hopes that their programs can serve as inspiration for a new program at Jubilee House.
Bronx, NY
Bronx Music Heritage Center programs include live music programs, readings, music history trolley tours, and educational art programs. It was founded by Bronx based community development nonprofit organization.
Bronx Global Learning Institute for Girls
is well known for their string program where each student learns violin through the Suzuki method. Throughout their elementary and middle school music training, students have opportunity to learn other string instruments like cello, viola, and double bass.
Lawrence, MA
Youth Development Organization (YDO) provides free programs for children who live in Lawrence. The programming includes piano lessons, and in an effort make them affordable, high school and college students teach these lessons to the younger kids, which allows YDO to keep services free while giving the older students the opportunity to develop their mentoring and teaching skills and providing the younger students with role models.
Paterson, NJ
Paterson Music Project uses the El Sistema Model. It is a large, tuition-free program with lots of different areas of musical study within it, uses the facilities of multiple schools throughout the community, and is a part of Wharton Arts, a larger arts program.
New City Kids is a larger organization that is located in four cities that offers after-school programming for local low-income youth. It offers 9 music classes for children in 1st-8th grade and gives academic assistance and music classes in their programs. It operates through various school centers.
Springfield, MA
Community Music School of Springfield brings the community together through music education and facilitates a healthy community. CSS also includes music therapy for special education students and for students with emotional struggles.
Springfield Symphony Orchestra is with its 80+ members is the largest Massachusetts symphony outside of Boston. Their mission is not only to offer high quality music performances but the organization offers music educational outreach to all ages especially youth. In addition, members of the SSO also provide private music lessons and master classes.
Worcester, MA
Neighborhood Strings is an El-Sistema based model of music education. They teach free string music lessons ages 6-18 in the Downtown and South Main neighborhoods of Worcester. They offer lessons at a number of schools, one of them being a school that serves new refugee youth.
Pakachoag Music School of Greater Worcester offers homeschool music, private lessons, group lessons, performance lessons, Suzuki lessons, etc. They teach different instruments and emphasize that any person of any age can learn how to play music. Their tuition is not free and can be pricey, but they do offer financial aid.