Welcome to the Projects! Youth Music at It's Best!

AWOL's Sound Design Program, the Projects is probably our most popular program of them all. It is the crux of all things AWOL and remains a coveted program to enroll into by dozens of Savannah youth. This is now our 3rd class and we are very excited about the release of the third album, "Dirty Water". The music is all written and produced by AWOL youth with the guidance of three awesome Artist Facilitators, Lloyd Harold, A.K.A "Kid Syc", Patrick Rodgers of Press Play Public Relations and our very own former youth participant turned teacher, Quentin Smith of CCB, A.K.A "QD".

We are always intrigued by the differences in each class. The first class was a broad mix of poets, rappers and R&B artist. For us, it was a perfect first album (dubbed The Outcome) because it was a great snapshot of what we hoped was to come. All kinds of talented kids, all in the studio, writing, creating, mixing and learning how to collaborate on a full scale media production that they could call their own. Some of the members of the first class have now entered the military and other have gone to college, I can only hope that some of the skills learned while they were with AWOL have successfully transferred into life skills. What might those skills be you ask?

• Communication
• Leadership
• Conflict Resolution
• Project Management

These are just a few of the soft skills learned during the process of creating a successful album. Often time, I can see why one might think to themselves, "Awww, that's so nice, the kids are learning how to make music and staying out of trouble". But AWOL is so much more than that. The relationships created during AWOL programs are the foundations of lifelong friendships and learning how to build positive relationships. So as you listen to a few tracks from the old class, (and a few off my cousin Anthony David's old album...he's so hot, my family is full of artist, but i'll tell you all about that in another issue) please be mindful that these kids are doing more than creating music, they are drawing the blue print for a successful future.



Myspace Page for each class:

Projects 1
Projects 2
Projects 3 (under construction)

UPCOMING PROJECTS EVENT!

AWOL Lake Bash 2009 Projects 3 Album Release, "Dirty Water"
June 26th @ Lake Mayer, Savannah, GA
4-7pm FREE EVENT

BBQ in full effect, with yours truly Polo on the grill! All proceeds go to support Savannah Youth!

About the Projects

Positive Reeducation of Juveniles Everywhere Concerning the Streets

Taught through a combination of classroom style workshops and hands-on training in AWOL’s production lab and recording studio, the Sound Design program, titled The P.R.O.J.E.C.T.S, gives students an opportunity to develop their musical talents while gaining first hand experience in multiple aspects of the music industry, including talent (songwriting / producing / recording) and business (public relations / representation / marketing).

The 6-8 month program (depending on youth progress)that is designed to expand the musical literacy and personal awareness of students using lessons about music history, music theory and creative writing that feeds into a collaborative environment where students work together to write, produce, record and market an album comprised of the best student work from the class. Local artists, writers and producers, who are active in their respective fields regionally and nationally, teach small classes of students focused on learning practical lessons such as instrument identification and music analysis, as well as understanding how to use industry-standard software, including ProTools (recording), Reason (production) and Fruity Loops (production). In addition to learning the basics of each program, students learn about composition, rhythm and theory in a hands-on environment that encourages them to express themselves through their music, while working with songwriters and lyricists to craft the best possible finished product.




Disclaimer: The Myspace links of AWOL employees, supporters and friends are their personal works of art. Links to Myspace URL's are in no way an endorsement of said artist or the content of the artist work. Nor is said content representative of AWOL youth program curriculum.




Find more music like this on AWOL All Walks of Life Inc.

Green Jobs for Smart Kids!

What the heck is a "green job" anyway and why should we care! And no, if your from Savannah, it's not a job St. Patrick's Day job. lol.

Well, I figured I would do a little Internet digging and here is just a few definitions that I could find, which seemed to narrow the scope just a bit, which I might add is hard to do given the relative ambiguity of many of the terms used in this field like "all natural" or "non toxic" which can sometime means different things depending on the circumstances. Nonetheless, here we go..

Time Magezine-According to Phil Angelides a venture capitalist and the 2006 Democratic candidate for governor of California (he lost to the political world's best-known Austrian-American), Angelides is the chair of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of business, labor and environmental groups championing green employment. Here's how he defines a green job: "It has to pay decent wages and benefits that can support a family. It has to be part of a real career path, with upward mobility. And it needs to reduce waste and pollution and benefit the environment." {I like this one!}

United Nations Environment Program-We define green jobs as work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development (R&D), administrative, and service activities that contribute substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help to protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce energy, materials, and water consumption through high-efficiency strategies; de-carbonize the economy; and minimize or altogether avoid generation of all forms of waste and pollution.



No matter what the definition is that you prefer, AWOL's Information Technology program for at-risk youth is certainly a "green job". AWOL youth are enrolled in what we have dubbed as the "Goon Squad". Youth learn all about how to refurbish and recycle old PC's that would otherwise be headed for a landfill, thus emitting harmful toxins into our environment. This particular AWOL program was recently featured in the May 2009 edition of Black Enterprise Magazine! (turn to page 82). What's even more important is that not only do they learn a valuable job skill, that gives them plenty of opportunity for career advancement, they get to help out the community by giving the newly refurbished PC's to needy families that have no access to home computing.

What's more is that, AWOL's Good Squad program utilizes only open source (free) software platforms (we like Ubuntu) on refurbished PC's making the PC sustainable for poor families who may not have the cash flow for upgrades to other proprietary software (sorry Bill, no Window here). Ubuntu is an African concept of 'humanity towards others'. It is 'the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity'.

So how did we end up with an IT program for youth in edtion to our arts programs? Well, in our orginal master grant we had decided from the out set that while arts was a great way to engage young people, not all of them would be "super talented"so to speak. And the bottom line is that not everbody is going to be the next Angela Bassett or Common, so we wanted to make sure that our youth development program came equipped with a cutting edge job training component that fit with the rapidly changing world of technology around us. If it's one thinng we have always been clear about, it's been the need to expose kids to as much technology as possible. Gone are the day's of simply teaching them how to drive a forklift. In order to compete in this world, kids need to be able to develop a software program that tells the forklift what box to pick up!

So this is how we ended up training kids for those "green jobs" that everyone keeps talking about. So if you own a company or work for a one, go down to the IT department and ask them just what happens to all those old PC's after they are done using them. Tell them you know of a great program that could sure use a couple 100 PC's for kids to train on and give back to the community. What a great way to help "bridge the digital divide"

Want to see the Goon Squad in action? Check out this video of our Big PC Giveaway that was supported by AWOL's corporate sponsor, Cricket Wireless. Did I mention that Cricket, a national corporation stepped up to the plate and gave away 25 free Cricket modems with 6 months of free service for needy families? Now that's what I call corporate resposibility at it's best!