Every child deserves the chance to be

heard

We bring mental-health-focused music education to the schools and communities that need it most — and have it least.

Support our Work

I AM MUSIC FOUNDATION

The Problem

There are children who have never heard music in their school

Across the Pacific Northwest and rural California, thousands of students attend schools with no music program at all. We call these communities "music deserts" — districts where funding cuts, geographic isolation, and a shortage of certified music teachers have eliminated arts education entirely.

In parts of our service area, low-income districts average nearly 1,000 students for every one music teacher. These are not districts with underfunded programs. They are districts with no programs.

The consequences extend beyond arts access. Many of these same communities lack adequate mental health services for children. Rural and under-resourced districts often have no school counselor, no social-emotional learning curriculum, and no structured outlet for students navigating stress, trauma, or neurodevelopmental differences. The students who would benefit most from music are the least likely to receive any form of it.

"I'm so happy we have this program, because there is music in my classroom where there wasn't before, and my kids needed it. I didn't know how bad they needed it."

— Heather H; Grades 4-6, Lupine Community Montessori Charter School, Oregon

Our Approach

Music is the method.
Whole, healthy students are the outcome.

The I Am Music Foundation was founded to address a dual gap — music access and mental health support — through a single, sustainable model. Our program, Emotionally Intelligent Music Instruction (EIMI), was developed by Executive Director Allison Wilkinson, a music psychologist and long-time music educator, drawing on years of research at the intersection of music psychology and education, including work with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

01

Music as a Tool for Resiliency

EIMI reframes music as a tool for emotional and cognitive growth. Lessons are developmentally sequenced to teach musical skill alongside emotional regulation, persistence, curiosity, and resilience. For neurodiverse learners — students with autism, ADHD, sensory processing differences — EIMI provides structured, multisensory engagement that supports regulation and communication in ways conventional instruction often cannot.

02

Teachers Already in the Building

EIMI is designed for general classroom teachers — not expensive specialists. In music deserts, hiring a dedicated music teacher isn't feasible. Hiring a mental health professional may be equally out of reach. By training the teachers already there, we create programs districts can sustain long after the initial support is complete.

03

Rooted in Any Culture

EIMI doesn't impose a single musical tradition. The framework is designed to be embedded in the cultural context of any community it serves — teaching through the music that already matters to students and their families. This isn't a one-size-fits-all American curriculum exported elsewhere. It's a structure for emotional and cognitive development that comes alive through local musical traditions, instruments, and practices. We've proven this works: EIMI has produced measurable outcomes both in Oregon's rural school districts and in schools in East Africa, across vastly different cultural landscapes — because the framework adapts to the music of the community rather than replacing it.

Our Impact

Teachers consistently report measurable improvements in literacy, as well as increased classroom engagement and self-regulation

The evidence is already here

6900+

educators trained across
two continents

1850+

students reached with direct
EIMI instruction to date

~5,500

students taught through
2026–2027 projects

Where other efforts had failed

Among our most profound outcomes: completely nonverbal students who required everyday activity support were able to communicate through both the reading and writing of music. These students — for whom traditional literacy efforts had failed — found an entry point for meaningful expression and connection through EIMI's structured, multisensory framework. For neurodiverse students who struggle with conventional academic approaches, these breakthroughs demonstrate the unique capacity of emotionally intelligent music instruction to unlock communication and learning.

"In traditional programs, the music is the product, and the humans are just the means to achieve it. In this program, whole, healthy humans are the product, and the music is the means."

— Charlee Eaves — Saxophone Professor, Old Dominion University, Virginia

What makes us different

Most music education nonprofits provide instruments, fund existing programs, or send visiting artists into schools for short-term residencies. We do something fundamentally different: we build the capacity of schools to deliver their own music programs permanently. Our teacher-training model means the program does not leave when the funding ends.

Equally important, we operate at the intersection of music education and mental health — a space very few organizations occupy. We are not a music program that happens to have social-emotional benefits. We are a mental-health-focused education program that uses music as its primary vehicle, with specific attention to neurodiverse learners who are underserved by both arts and mental health systems in their communities.

We don't send music in.
We build it to stay.

IAMF address two critical needs simultaneously — in districts that have resources for neither.

What makes us different

We are at a turning point. The framework is proven. The teachers are telling us it works. The research partners are ready. What stands between where we are and the thousands of children waiting in music deserts is funding — at every level.

An investment that compounds

  • Before a single new classroom can hear music for the first time, the tools have to exist. The Music for Everyone Curriculum project completes the heart of our work: finalizing the full EIMI lesson plans, sequencing guides, and teacher resources — and producing professional training videos that capture real teachers working with real students. These videos mean a fourth-grade teacher in a rural Oregon district with no music budget, no specialist, and no training can open her laptop and learn how to bring music into her classroom by Monday morning. Once these materials exist, they exist forever — every new school we reach will use them. Your support at this stage doesn't fund a single program; it builds the foundation for every program that follows.

  • In the poorest counties in Oregon and Washington, there are children who have never had a music class. Many of those same children have never seen a school counselor. The Music Desert Initiative brings EIMI directly to these communities — training 150 teachers across rural districts where schools lack both music education and mental health resources. But we don't parachute in and leave. We train the teachers who already know these kids by name, who already eat lunch with them and tie their shoes and call their parents. When we leave, the music stays — because the capacity belongs to the community, not to us. Those 150 teachers will reach an estimated 3,000 to 4,500 students every year, long after our work is done.

  • Our teachers have been telling us for years: students are calmer, more engaged, more connected. Nonverbal children are communicating. Kids who couldn't sit still are focused. Now we're proving it. In partnership with Portland State University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, we're conducting a formal evaluation of EIMI's impact on student engagement, emotional regulation, classroom climate, and — critically — outcomes for neurodiverse learners, including students with ADHD and autism. This research transforms years of teacher testimony into peer-reviewed evidence, positioning EIMI for national scale and giving every future funder confidence that this model works.

  • The Music for Everyone Curriculum requires targeted grants in the $10,000–$20,000 range — the kind of support that builds something permanent. The Music Desert Initiative is a $130,900 effort backed by larger systems-level funders. Together, they form a complete pipeline: build the materials, train the teachers, prove it works, and scale. Whether you give $25 or $25,000, you are part of the same story — putting music, and everything it carries, into the hands of children who have never had it.

Together, these materials become permanent infrastructure. Every new district partnership will use the same curriculum and training library — meaning your investment compounds over time rather than serving a single cohort.

Beginning in 2027, we plan to partner with five school districts and three universities to deploy these materials — bringing mental-health-focused music education to students who currently have access to neither.

Help us orchestrate joy

Your support directly funds the curriculum and training that will bring music — and the mental health benefits it carries — to children in communities that have neither.

Donate now

or get in touch to learn about partnership opportunities