Shaping the orchestra of nonprofit impact

Experiencing Willie Mae Rock Camp in person underscores the importance of purposeful connection and direct engagement in shaping the orchestra of nonprofit impact.

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Joined by Youth INC Board Co-Chairs Kathleen McCabe, PJT Partners, Wray Thorn, Focus Impact Partners, staff partners and guests and beautifully captured by Youth INC Director and independent filmmaker John Campbell, JCINTIME, we got the opportunity to ‘mess around find out,’ a cornerstone approach to positive youth development employed by Willie Mae Rock Camp.

Brilliantly led by LaFrae Sci, Executive Director, and her dynamic team, we were transported to a rhythmic world filled with percussion, circuit bending, modular synths, and live coding. We experienced firsthand one of the unique pathways used by our Nonprofit Partners in identifying interests and building Social Emotional Learning (SEL), proven to lead to better life outcomes for young people.

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Kambaba Jasper, LaFrae Sci and JWords, Willie Mae Rock Camp

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A Youth INC Nonprofit Partner since 2015, Willie Mae Rock Camp has evolved into “a powerful platform for girls and gender-expansive youth to develop their creative voices, gain access to contemporary music and audio technology and become creators in a tech-informed future.” By providing access to music education and promoting a culture of experimentation and creativity, Willie Mae Rock Camp is crafting an alchemical experience for young people. Their remarkable impact has been guided, in part, by their partnership with Youth INC. Over the course of our partnership, we have helped Willie Mae Rock Camp with executive transitions, succession planning, governance and access to capital, which has helped them grow their revenue and expand their programs to reach more young people.

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Visiting our Nonprofit Partners in person helps foster stronger relationships, understand realities, and create a shared purpose, guiding our actions and enriching our understanding of the communities our Nonprofit Partners serve. As we listened, learned, and engaged, we better understood the individual and collective frequencies we must raise to achieve our mission of creating a brighter, more promising future for young people.

By witnessing our Nonprofit Partners’ strengths, understanding their challenges, and exploring potential opportunities, we can contribute more effectively to growth and sustainability. LaFrae Sci beautifully captured the power of this collaborative approach when she said, “If you can play a note, you can be in a band. Now listen to the people beside you and make music together.” The harmony we seek to create as a capacity builder among our board members, supporters, and Nonprofit Partners is essential to maximizing collective impact.

To learn more about Willie Mae Rock Camp, visit williemaerockcamp.org.

Author

Rehana Farrell

Rehana assumed the role of Executive Director of Youth INC in January 2015. Rehana joined Youth INC from Cain Hoy Enterprises, a private equity firm in New York City, which she helped form as Chief Operating Officer. Cain Hoy was comprised of investment professionals from Guggenheim Partners where Rehana worked as Chief Administrative Officer for Guggenheim Investments since 2012. Prior to that, Rehana spent 8 years at Merrill Lynch where she held a variety of global financial and operating roles.

John Campbell

John Campbell is the Founder of JCINTIME, LLC, a creative management and production company with significant productions including ‘5150’, where he is Co-Executive Producer along with Critic’s Choice and SAG Award winning actor and Executive Producer David Oyelowo, directed by Denzel Whitaker, and stars Jovan Adepo, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. John is also lead producer on the FIPRESCI Award winning 2022 feature film ‘The Sleeping Negro’. Producer of award winning films and upcoming television dramas and documentary releases including the recent feature film, ‘A Boy, A Girl, A Dream’ on Amazon Prime, producer of 6 time Film Festival Award winning feature ‘Destined’, producer of Letitia Guillory’s ‘gATES’ tv series currently signed to WarnerMedia 150. John Campbell is writer and executive producer of HBO Max and 5 time film festival award winning documentary ‘The Infamous Future’ highlighting the prolific and inspiring Eagle Academy Black and Brown boys, the Eagle Academy Foundation and its educators including the New Chancellor for the Department of Education Mr. David C. Banks. The Infamous Future also stars the Mayor of New York City Eric Adams. John was the producer of the 2018 March on Washington Film Festival in Washington, D.C. Associations: – Board member of Youth INC – Former voting member and three time award winner of the Grammys Academy – Former Chair of Ailey Ambassadors Committee – Three time Gold Award recipient of President Barack Obama volunteers Award. Board for Black Entrepreneurs Market, Upstate, NY. Former Board, Shaker Museum, NY.

Willie Mae Rock Camp

Willie Mae Rock Camp provides a range of interdisciplinary programs focused on music technology, including summer camp, in-school music education, after-school digital mentorship, community workshops and events, and online learning. Willie Mae Rock Camp offers our programs tuition-free because they believe that income should not be a barrier to expression. They place racial and economic justice as central to increasing access to the arts for historically underrepresented young people, and the majority of our students are BIPOC.Programming is delivered by professional musicians and teaching artists, and the organization provides opportunities for students to receive mentorship from female and nonbinary professionals in creative technology fields.