It’s always a beautiful thing when a child can learn something. It is especially gratifying to see them express themselves through music and art. To be taught how to properly invoke the right emotions and feel as if they have a self made podium. A therapist. A friendly ear. An empathetic listener. A person nearby. MUSIC CHANGING LIVES joins the fight to bring the next generations a TRUE appreciation of the arts and expression. An outlet in a world full of tension and indecision. A place to call refuge.

MUSIC CHANGING LIVES is a movement, focused on teaching at risk youth to live beyond their current reality through music and art.

Founder: Josiah Bruny
Organization: Music Changing Lives
Type: Non-Profit
Recent Accomplishments: 2012 Recipient of the “Spirit of the Entrepreneur” Award

Josiah Bruny’s middle name should be Community Service he is widely known for his efforts at the Redlands Community Center (Redlands, CA). He is the founder of Music Changing Lives which is a non-profit program that some teenagers credit with giving them a new perspective on life and an outlet to enhance talents that otherwise may have languished or led them into trouble. The program could also be called Music and Art Changing lives, since students also receive art instruction and create murals and illustrations for comic books and T-shirts. On a typical day in the informally structured program, the kids come in after school and work on their homework with help if needed and then move on to projects in the music and art rooms. The mission statement of Music Changing Lives is to offer the highest quality of music and art enrichment programs to underprivileged and at risk youth that are between the ages of 8 and older and helping them improve their chances of achieving a positive and successful future. The programs offered by Music Changing Lives are designed to reduce school dropout rates by helping them connect with their own passion and purpose in life.

Josiah Bruny began his music career by first marketing his brother’s music and then as a hip-hop artist himself. He then sold 10,000 copies of five of his freshman album “Verbal Biography” and another 50,000 of his sophomore album “V Part Two”, but found that he received greater reward in guiding others to a better life than he did from performing. When Bruny first opened it was in 2003 in his home in Moreno Valley, CA. In 09’ Bruny expanded services to the Redlands Community Center, converting a once locker room into a state of the arts recording studio with the help of youth and community members. Despite the infrastructure challenges, numerous teenagers took a liking to the program. Music Changing Lives basically rejuvenated the overall feeling and enthusiasm at the Redlands Community Center. Funded mostly by earned incomes such as the sells of Compact Disc, T-Shirts and now a customized 16 oz. water bottle, Music Changing Lives was able to create a spacious full on recording studio which has just recently been upgraded thanks to a Community Development Block Grant. If you have never seen it, you need to stop by the community center and see for yourself the professionalism the studio portrays.

At a time when many nonprofits are struggling with diminished income and overwhelming need, Music Changing Lives under the leadership of Josiah Bruny is expanding. With his mobile studio and equipment purchased in part through a grant from the Community Foundation in Riverside (CA), Josiah has been able to take the program to teenagers at a Youth Opportunity Center in Moreno Valley and Housing Authority sites in San Bernardino (CA) and Colton (CA).

Josiah’s leadership skills have enabled the program to sustain itself. He has negotiated a deal with the Ranch Market, Gerrards and Olive Avenue Markets, which have agreed to sell bottled water carrying a Music Changing Lives label. In return, they will donate the proceeds from the sale of the water bottles to the Music Changing Lives program. He also organizes the annual Redlands triathlon that takes place each February at Redlands East Valley high school. Proceeds from the triathlon go towards the program.

To receive scholarships for his program, students must maintain a 2.5 grade point average. You will notice that it is a half a point higher than the school mandated 2.0 GPA to take part in extracurricular activities. To help the students, Josiah has enlisted tutors through the America Reads, America Counts Program through UC Riverside. University of Redlands students also help as part-time tutors and instructors. He had not intended at first to include tutoring as part of the music program but found that schools could not provide tutors and many tutoring programs charge fees the kids cannot pay.
Josiah is a valuable asset the School Districts and the Police Department’s strategic purpose of creating safe and sustainable neighborhoods. His program offers a safe haven for the youth in our community to gather after school too not only practice the arts but to enhance their education. It gives the teenagers a sense of purpose and a goal to work towards. Please stay tuned for more to come….

I applaud Josiah in finding a very important way to give back to the community. I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere in the future some of his kids end up in media in some fashion. Be it assisting the creation of or being the subject there in. This is something that makes me smile from the inside. Real community outreach. Concern for the future. And a sense of pride and responsibility. Please visit his site for more information MUSIC CHANGING LIVES

– Mr. Nicholas Nice