[Meredith Pizzi]

Laura and Angie,
You both bring up important points about funding for our services. Yes, funds are often limited, but there are ways to create ways that provide access to services and can provide you with a decent income. It’s not easy, and it takes perseverance, creative thinking, and a lot of networking with out passionate people, but it is possible! We will get into advocacy later and how being a Sprouting Melodies Provider will really reinforce your general advocacy as a music therapist, and will connect you a much wider network.
Libraries often have funding reserved and may be very interested in partnering with you to meet a need that is clearly demonstrated by the community, for example, the Mexican families in Boulder. The free music group that you mention Angie, seems to be an attempt to meet a need in the community, but clearly it isn’t working if the reviews aren’t good. Maybe there are libraries in your area, or other community centers working with children and families who would want to contract with you to run Sprouting Melodies groups. This year, we were approved to be on the list of vendors for subsidized housing programs, so that we can bring Sprouting Melodies to parents and children who really NEED our groups, but don’t have the means to pay for a specialized music class like ours. We are really hopeful about how this will play out for us in 2013.
Also, consider the possiblity of mixed programs. By running our groups as a community based class that families pay for, we have been able to offer classes to families on a sliding scale, and we’ve offered options to Head Start and agencies working with foster families to be able to take advantage of our classes as well. If you have 5 or 6 people paying full price for a class, you can afford to offer a mixed price to others.
Laura, do you think there are more affluent families in the Boulder area who would want to participate in a bilingual Sprouting Melodies class which would then allow you to open the group up to families who maybe couldn’t pay full price? Or are the agencies that would be able to find the budget dollars to get you in the door?
Thanks for your contributions, Ladies!

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