Our Why

Did you know that students spend nearly 80% of their waking hours outside of school? This makes clear that learning ONLY during the traditional school hours alone is not enough to prepare young people to participate fully in today’s society. Yet students from higher-income households access extended learning – programs for students outside of school hours – at nearly 9 TIMES the rate of students from under-resourced communities. This gap contributes to unequal graduation and dropout rates and disproportionately affects Black and Brown youth.

Our How

Change The Tune is a 501c3 nonprofit that works to close the opportunity gap for youth in underserved communities by creating holistic, radical, and transformational extended learning experiences in partnership with communal organizations. We have three key strategies in our approach to this work:

• Create & Lead Programs that Students Love
• Train & Develop Organization & School Leaders
• Mobilize Communities to Invest in Innovative Learning Approaches

Our Programming

We have two extended learning programs where we directly support students.

The Lab

After School with Change The Tune
The Lab is a hands-on after-school program where students ages 10-18 build confidence, leadership, and real-world skills through STEAM, entrepreneurship, social-emotional learning, and creative projects. Students learn by doing, collaborating with peers, exploring local businesses, and developing community-focused ideas they can put into action.

The Studio

Summer with Change The Tune
Our programs provide hands-on learning experiences for both students and educators. While students participate, educators also develop their own models for high-quality out-of-school programming. We also partner with schools and districts to strengthen the design and delivery of summer and after-school programs.

Training & Developing

Our summer program is not only a camp for kids, it is also a hands-on and experiential camp for facilitators to learn how to run revolutionary programming. While the students are learning, educators are simultaneously building their own model for an out-of-school-time program that they hope to implement in the near future. We also partner with schools and districts to teach them how to build and run summer and afterschool programs.

Mobilizing Communities

We center community voice in program design by engaging students, families, and local partners through surveys and advisory groups. We also help schools and organizations strengthen fundraising and build long-term support for high-quality out-of-school learning.