PLUGGED IN NEWS

02/08: At the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Annual Dinner in Boston, Plugged In student Jake Randall, who has Cystic Fibrosis, presented a check for $4100, which was raised at the Plugged In January 2008 concert to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

There are now drugs in clinical trials that will help to treat the basic defect in Cystic Fibrosis. At the dinner, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation president and CEO, Dr. Robert Beall, invited Jake to perform at the foundation's victory party when these drugs become available.

01/08: Plugged In receives a $1,000 Youth and Community grant from the Crossroads Community Foundation Youth in Philanthropy program at Needham High School.

As part of the Youth in Philanthropy program, Crossroads partners with local schools to teach students about the process of philanthropy and the needs of the MetroWest community. Led by a designated site coordinator from Crossroads, each group, which typically consists of about 15 students, receives training on nonprofit organizations, reviews professionally written grant proposals and visits local nonprofits to better understand the lives affected by their participation. The students are then empowered with grant making decisions under the oversight of Crossroads' Distribution Committee and Board of Trustees. Students are given the decision-making responsibility of awarding up to $10,000 in grants to MetroWest nonprofit organizations serving children and youth. Students use the same processes followed by Crossroads to make their decisions: They consider the merits of competing proposals, reach consensus and present their recommendations to the board. The grant awarded to Plugged In is for the scholarship fund.

09/07: Plugged In participates in Strengthening Your Organization, a board development program offered by the Arts and Business Council of Boston.

This intensive program instructs and trains administrators and board members on effective board recruiting and management practices. It is geared toward small and medium-sized Boston-based arts organizations and is presented over a period of four sessions.

7/15/07: Dispatch donated two tickets to sold-out Dispatch Zimbabwe concert for silent auction to benefit Plugged In. Zimbabwe band, Bongo Love, plays at concert.

In January 2006 Plugged In had a benefit concert for the Elias Fund, started by the band Dispatch to provide hope and opportunity to Zimbabwean youth through education and community development. Since the concert, Chad Urmston, lead singer of Dispatch and State Radio, has been a supporter of Plugged In, especially of the program's mission of providing kids an opportunity for making positive change in the world through music. He, and the college-aged directors of the Elias Fund, have participated in a number of Plugged In events and have continued to be positive role models for the Plugged In students.

While planning the January 2006 concert, Plugged In made contact with the Music Crossroads Southern Africa project. Through a combination of music, self-awareness and HIV/Aids education, Music Crossroads aims to empower African musicians between the ages of 15 and 27 and, in the long-term, to build a self-sustainable cross-border youth music structure in the Southern African Development Community. In the summer of 2006, Music Crossroads contacted Plugged In to see if there was interest in having one of their new bands, Bongo Love, come to Boston for a cultural exchange with Plugged In students, as well as play at local venues. Bongo Love was participating in the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States) festival in the Dominican Republic October 14-21 - and was able to stop by Boston area on their way from Zimbabwe to the Dominican Republic. The genre of music Bongo Love plays is called "Afro-coustics", a unique combination of styles delivered on traditional instruments, such as marimba and mbira, with lyrics in English, Shona and Ndebele.

On October 6, Bongo Love arrived in Boston. During their week-long stay, they performed at schools, festivals, the East Boston Columbus Day parade and concerts...each time winning the hearts of the audience. Workshops and get-togethers were held at which Plugged In students got a chance to learn about traditional African music and about African culture, in general- and had the opportunity to make new friends. For some of the students, the experience of meeting Bongo Love was life-changing. One such student was Aaron Harel, who after Bongo Love left, expressed his dream that they could return to Boston the following May and perform at his Bar Mitzvah.

In January 2007, Plugged In was contacted by Hannah Wahl, a young woman from Seattle, who had recently traveled to Zimbabwe with a marimba band in which she played. While in Zimbabwe, she met Bongo Love, and fell in love with their music. She decided that when she returned to the states, she would bring Bongo Love here for a tour. Bongo Love gave Hannah the contact information for Plugged In. Through the combined efforts of Hannah and Plugged In, Bongo Love was granted a performance visa and enough donated frequent flyer miles to make the trip to Boston....in time to surprise Aaron at his Bar Mitzvah and perform at his party on May 5th, the day after their arrival. On that same day, Bongo Love was invited by the Elias Fund to perform at the Elias Fest, a day-long concert in Acton, MA that was a fundraiser for the organization. Chad Urmston, who was performing at the concert with State Radio, invited Bongo Love to join in on one of the band's songs. The crowd went crazy and by the next day, there were blog entries and You Tube videos on the internet of Bongo Love's performance with State Radio.

Bongo Love's US tour included stops in Boston, New Mexico, Seattle, Portland, Boulder and New York City. The stop in New York City coincided with the dates of the Dispatch reunion concert, Dispatch: Zimbabwe, on July 13, 14 and 15. Dispatch was interested in having a Zimbabwe band perform at the concert and contacted Plugged In to find out ideas for who they should contact. Bongo Love, already here and scheduled to be in New York, was the perfect fit. Bongo Love was invited to a Dispatch rehearsal in New York. After the rehearsal, Dispatch offered Bongo Love the opportunity to perform on all three nights of the sold-out concerts.

Dispatch donated two tickets to Plugged In to auction as a fundraiser for the program. The winner of the auction was a Plugged In student, T.J. Pettiglio, a huge fan of Urmston, State Radio and Dispatch. At the concert, T.J. was invited backstage to meet with Chad and Bongo Love. Jake Boynton, BU student son of a Plugged In board member, was also at the concert, and joined Chad, T.J. and Bongo Love backstage.

07/07: Plugged In attends official launch of the CJ Foundation for SIDS Center Without Walls and presents donation from June 9th concert.

On Saturday, June 9th, 2007 Plugged In presented "Rock the Cradle of Love," a benefit concert which raised $2000 for the CJ Foundation for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, a national charitable organization dedicated to recognizing the special needs of the SIDS community through funding SIDS research, support services, and public awareness programs. In April, 2007 the CJ Foundation for SIDS launched The Center Without Walls, a first-of-its-kind SIDS research consortium to speed research and eradicate the threat of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

The CJ SIDS Center Without Walls unites several distinguished SIDS research institutions in the United States working in a collaborative effort to form this unique research consortium. These institutions include Children's Hospital Boston, Columbia University, the Medical Schools at Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, and Rady Children's Hospital- San Diego.

Essentially, the research will focus on: 1) determining the cause(s) of the brainstem serotonin defects in SIDS infants; 2) developing a battery of tests to diagnose and identify living infants at risk of these defects and therefore likely to at risk for SIDS; and finally 3) developing a therapeutic intervention, potentially pharmaceutical, that "corrects" the underlying serotonin defect in these identified living infants throughout the critical period, and thereby prevents sudden infant death syndrome.

In July, the CJ Foundation held a meeting at the Inn at Longwood in Boston at which the members of the Center Without Walls consortium presented their research to Joel and Susan Hollander, founders of the CJ Foundation.

The CJ Foundation invited Plugged In to attend the meeting and present the donation from the June 9th concert to the CJ Foundation. Plugged In student and youth advisory board member, T.J. Pettiglio, presented the check with Plugged In Executive Director, Sandra Rizkallah.

06/07: Plugged In begins participation in Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston's Business Volunteers for the Arts program

Plugged In will be working with two volunteers from the Business Volunteers for the Arts (BVA) program that is offered by the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston. BVA is a matchmaking program that connects skilled business professionals with arts and cultural organizations in need of high-level business assistance. BVA volunteer matches are project-driven. Each project delivers custom-designed consulting and/or coaching services to arts and cultural nonprofits free of charge.

The BVA volunteers working with Plugged In are:

Paul Waldeck - former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Copy Cop, Inc. and Founder and current Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Images LLC. Paul will be working with Plugged In on Board Development.
DJ Singh - DJ will be working with Plugged In on financial reporting and budgeting.

4/2007: Plugged In participated on plenary panel at the 2007 IASPM Conference at Northeastern University.

On April 29, 2007 Plugged In co-founders, Tom Pugh and Sandra Rizkallah, were invited to participate on the plenary panel, "Using Music as a Community Resource and an Educational Tool," at the annual conference of the US and Canadian branches of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) at Northeastern University in Boston. The goal of the panel was to demonstrate the community and educational uses of music to academics attending the conference from all over the world. Other participants on the panel, which was moderated by Jeff Melnick, professor of American Studies at Babson College, included the East Boston Youth Music Program - ZUMIX, the Rock and Roll Library, Boston empowerment through media program - Project: Think Different, and Genuine Voices - an organization that teaches computer-based music sequencing to youths in juvenile detention centers and other educational and institutional settings across the United States and Worldwide. The plenary panel was the idea of Reebee Garofalo, chair of the IASPM Music and Action committee, internationally known scholar of popular music studies, author, and professor at the College of Public and Community Service at U Mass Boston, where he heads the Community Media and Technology program.

11/2006: Plugged In holds first fundraiser and raises over $5000
Photos from the Event

On November 18th, Plugged In presented "Adventurous Pairings: A Wine Tasting to Benefit the Plugged In Teen Band Program" held at Arclinea, the award-winning kitchen design showroom at 10 St. James Avenue in Boston. Arclinea generously donated the use of the showroom for the event. Over 50 guests attended and had the opportunity to discover unexpected adventurous wine parings with food from different cultures. Chas Boynton, sommelier at Legal Seafoods (and a protege of master of wine Sandy Block) who specializes in finding the perfect wine for a variety of ethnic cuisines, led the wine tasting. Food, wine, raffle and auction items were donated by Legal Seafoods, Whole Foods, Davios, Sweet Basil, Fuji Steak House, Masala Art, Sato, Bay Sweets, Aneka Rasa, Vie Majestic, Blanchards Liquors, Formaggio, Boston Tutoring Center, Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery, Steve and Jane Dornbusch, Leca Boynton, Chris Kelly, Nina Balodimos, Steve Goldberg, John Commando and Toby Seggerman.

Former Plugged In student and current sous chef at Sweet Basil, Matt Kinel, thrilled guest with his roasted eggplant soup and mini-portobello pizzas. Musician, James Boynton, provided beautiful background music with his elegant sax playing. Plugged In board member, Bruce Lynch, did a fantastic job emceeing the event, including leading an entertaining and successful auction. Plugged In student, Miranda Balodimos, gave a speech to guests about her experiences of being a Plugged In student. The money raised at the fundraiser will help to support our ongoing programs, as well as support new projects and ideas.

10/2006: Zimbabwe band, Bongo Love, visits Plugged In for one-week cultural exchange program. Plugged In presents first "Charity Night"
Photos from the Bongo Love Events

In January 2006, the Plugged In Teen Band Program in Needham held a benefit concert to raise money for an educational fund for Zimbabwean youth. While planning the concert, Plugged In made contact with the Music Crossroads Southern Africa project. Through a combination of music, self-awareness and HIV/Aids education, Music Crossroads aims to empower African musicians between the ages of 15 and 27 and, in the long-term, to build a self-sustainable cross-border youth music structure in the Southern African Development Community (www.jmi.net/activities/crossroads/).

In the summer of 2006, Music Crossroads contacted Plugged In to see if there was interest in having one of Zimbabwe's newest music sensations, Bongo Love, come to Boston for a cultural exchange with Plugged In students, as well as play at local venues. Bongo Love was participating in the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States) festival in the Dominican Republic October 14-21, 2006 - and was able to stop by Boston area on their way from Zimbabwe to the Dominican Republic.

On October 6, Bongo Love arrived in Boston. We picked them up at the airport and drove straight to the Unitarian Church in Needham for the Plugged In Charity Night, and event where students had the opportunity to present their charity ideas for the January concert to the rest of the students, and then vote to determine the charitable organization for which the concert would raise money.

We had a potluck dinner and Bongo Love performed, even after traveling for two days! Judy Salerno, from the Crossroads Community Foundation, talked to the kids about youth and philanthropy and gave some ideas about different charities/organizations. Crossroads has a Youth In Philanthropy program in which they partner with local schools and community groups to train and convene youth grantmaking committees who then advise all of the foundation's grantmaking to youth and children's organizations. Peter Hackel, a local musician and charity event producer, spoke to the kids about his experiences producing and performing in benefit concerts. It was a great time for everyone.

During the Bongo Love's week-long stay, they performed at schools, festivals, the East Boston Columbus Day parade and concerts...each time winning the hearts of the audience and selling out CDs. Workshops and get-togethers were held at which Plugged In students got a chance to learn about traditional African music and instruments, such as the mbira and marimba, and about African culture, in general- and had the opportunity to make new friends.

For some of the students, the experience of meeting Bongo Love was life-changing. Bongo Love said they will never forget the trip, nor the people they met here.

We hope they come back to Boston soon!

08/2006: Plugged In Invited to Collaborate on Zimbabwe/U.S. Youth Cross-Cultural Music Exchange Program

Cuthbert Chiromo, Harare-based manager for Zimbabwe music legend, Thomas Mapfumo, has asked Plugged In to collaborate with him on a cross-cultural youth music exchange program.

Through this project, young musicians from Zimbabwe and the United States will gain an understanding of a different style of music and instruments, as well as a greater awareness of another culture and country. From this experience, these youth will develop respect and compassion for differences and learn about the importance of a multi-cultural society, thus eliminating the roots of racism.

During visits, all the students will perform together at various venues and will have the opportunity to record together. Students will travel to various regions in the area to optimize the opportunity to learn about various cultures. Students involved in this program will also have the opportunity to perform at international music festivals, such as the WOMAD festival (www.womad.org) and participate in the workshops offered at the festivals.

06/2006: The Elias Fund sent Plugged In the below photo of Justice Makuni, the Zimbabwean student who was the recipient of the scholarship made possible by the Plugged In January 2006 concert donation, as well as this beautiful thank you letter.

Judith Makuni and her son Justice live in the southeastern corner of Zimbabwe in the small town of Chiredzi. A maid by profession, Judith makes little more than $5 U.S. a month. On such little income the opportunity, let along the dream, of higher education for her son was not possible. Yet despite the overwhelming circumstances, Justice thrived as a student in both primary and secondary school. He ranked at the top of his class, passing with flying colors on his "O" and "A" level exams. But his education seemingly would end with this, no chance to develop a brighter future through university level education...That is until Plugged In selected the Elias Fund as the beneficiary of a charity performance.

The benefit concert on January 15, 2006 raised enough money to not only put Justice into college but paid for his complete tuition for four years. Thanks to the efforts of Plugged In, the life of one Zimbabwean youth will forever be changed. Justice has been given the opportunity to dream bigger than he ever has and he is empowered to reach those dreams. What transpired in January is a testament of the beautiful connection that can exist between music and international development. May many more dreams be inspired by the story and life of Justice Makuni and his relation with Plugged In...

Plugged In Awarded Capacity Building Grant

Plugged In received a Capacity Building Grant from the Crossroads Community Foundation for nonprofit consulting services. The grant is being used to hire a nonprofit consultant to help develop and strengthen the Plugged In Board of Directors.

Crossroads Community Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3), public charity created to improve the quality of life in the Metrowest region by increasing the level and spirit of philanthropy in the communities west of Boston. www.ccfdn.org

Plugged In Receives Cultural Council Grant

Plugged In received a grant from the Needham Cultural Council to provide scholarship support for 2 Needham students. The Needham Cultural Council is a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.