3 Cheers for 501(c) 3 and Other Achievements

It's official--as of April 22, 2002, the Midnight Forum has been legally recognized by the Department of Treasury as a non-profit organization, a 501 (c) 3. That means we can directly process and administer grants that the organization receives. We could never have achieved this step without the generous pro-bono efforts of Arent Fox Law lawyers who assisted in the 501 (c) 3 and Incorporation Process. Also, we owe special thanks to Metro Teen AIDS Staff who acted as our fiscal agent as our non-profit status was being arranged.

It seems like perfect timing we'll be using our new status as we use several grants we've just received, including a small grant to be used for the Anti-Smoking Youth Campaign from D.C. Children's Youth Investment Trust Corporation, and several small grants from Diann H. Painter, Mobil Oil Foundation Matching Grant Program, and an anonymous donor.

The 501 (c) 3 status also allows us to directly work out partnerships for youth program space. And we are moving ahead in that direction as well: we've made arrangements with the Stead Recreation Center, Veteran's Memorial YMCA, Latin American Youth Center, Drew Recreational Center and Fort Henry Youth Center, for Summer and Fall 2002, and Spring 2003.

In addition to our new status, we also are celebrating completion of the first draft of The Midnight Forum Youth Program Curriculum Book, thanks to the tireless efforts of the The Midnight Forum, Inc Program Committee.

DC Metro Midnight Forum Youth Spring to Success

Building on past achievements, the DC Metro Midnight Forum Youth had a very successful Spring 2002 - they enhanced the business plan developed in Fall 2001 and went on to record another song. A core group of alum's joined efforts with new recruits from local high schools. As they worked on their rap skills, participants also learned about leadership, asset-based mapping, and the history of various dancing styles around the world.

Throughout the spring, participants kept on coming back for more. While everyone agreed that working on their song was great, getting to know and work through the whole process was humbling.

A few comments from the final questionnaire give a good sense of what the youth took away from their participation: "Fun, Keeps youth out of trouble, Responsibility, Rap and basics, Achieved: Making a great CD, How the (recording) studio is and (works), writing lyrics, and Need to first learn about becoming an entrepreneur in order to make it big in the rap world."

The Arlington Youth Program

The Midnight Forum Arlington Youth Program was partnered with Veteran's Memorial YMCA in South Arlington, Virginia and was lead by the first-ever Program Manager, Damien Southall who reports on his experience.

During the Spring 2002 Session, we accomplished a number of tasks. One, we imparted the message of leadership to the youth participants. After reviewing the students Pre-Survey, Final Survey, and also written notes taken after the leadership class, I was relatively happy about the youth responses to the leadership training session. One student remarked, "Wow! That was deep."

The student responded positively toward the leadership training session. Other accomplishments achieved during this season's training included teaching the various Hip-Hop elements. In particular, deejay training went favorably well. Student enthusiasm reigned high. As a result, they excelled in the skill. This was equally true of graffiti and emcee training. By the closing class, two freestyle battles ensued.

The battles included youth participants DJing the events and also rhyming. Hip-Hop culture bolstered forward as these two elements stood at the forefront. Although emcee training went well, we did not record a song. However, the graffiti artists created enough design work to produce a tee shirt for the Arlington Midnight Forum Program. Plus we generated the beginnings of a solid business plan. The youth responded through final surveys "Learned how to freestyle better", "Comfortable environment", "You get to learn new things. Learned how to use the turn-table. Achieved to make a design for the T-shirt.? "Keep you off the streets and learn(ed) new stuff."

A Midnight Forum Success Story

It might not seem very impressive to say that the Spring 2001 recruitment session at Bell Multicultural High School in Columbia Heights only brought in one actual Midnight Forum participant. But that one has ended up with some pretty impressive achievements. Walter Chavez a.k.a. DJ Menace parleyed what he learned about hip-hop and life skills in the Spring and Fall 2001 Saturday Sessions into an internship with DJ Six-Sense (DJ at Platinum and WKYS). As an intern, he is learning more about the professional business side of being a radio, club, party, and music group DJ.

However Walter is staying loyal to the Midnight Forum?he taught the art of DJaying to youth during the spring 2002 semester time at Latin American Youth Center. He also has created a draft business plan to do a fundraiser around with Youth and Hip-Hop to talk about ending youth violence in the community in the Summer or Fall of 2002.

Walter's story shows the strength of our program. Chavez's heritage is El Salvadorian but he grew up on the streets of Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights, listening to hip-hop. He became interested more about DJaying from his cousin, DJ Geo who was a local celebrity who spun Spanish, house, hip-hop music at local clubs, and house parties.

However, the day DJ Geo was killed, Walter began to think about keeping his cousin's tradition alive. In pursuit of his ambition to be a professional DJ and music producer, Walter went out and bought the equipment and played his parent's old records to practice. Still, something was missing to achieve his dream. Then, during his senior at Bell H.S. Mr. Williams, the Career Counselor, told him about The Midnight Forum Youth Program recruitment session. Walter attended and has been active ever since. In the Saturday Youth Program, Chavez learned the tricks of the trade of DJaying through the guidance of Tru. Tru showed him how to blend beats, how to match up the same beats, how to scratch, and how to listen to the beats and words in the music, and how to have fun. Walter also learned in TMF Youth Program a little bit about how to be music producer, draw graffiti style letters, and how to be leader without even knowing it.

Walter sums up the reaction to the overall experience at The Midnight Forum? "It was excellent! If not for The Midnight Forum I would not have been able to mix well which enabled me to be a party DJ and DJ Instructor at Latin American Youth Center."