The results have been transformational. In Miami Gardens, student participation in arts education rose from just 27% to 84%. In South Dade, participation nearly tripled in one year, jumping from 15% to 40% across 19 schools. Alongside these gains, AAM programs have led to measurable improvements in student attendance, reading scores, and social-emotional development. With over 4,500 instruments donated, 300+ youth performances produced, and $3.7 million awarded in Alliance Building, Catalyst, and Momentum Grants awarded to increase equity and access.

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Since 2023, we’ve built and launched the artlook® map, enabling schools, nonprofits, and community members to have visibility on access to the arts in and out of schools. For two consecutive years, 100% of Miami-Dade County Public Schools have active data on the map, enabling more strategic arts offerings county-wide. By identifying gaps on the map, we ran our first data-responsive grant cycle where we invested $240,000 in 12 arts organizations filling the voids revealed by the artlook data. 

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In this journey, we tested out collective impact models between nonprofits, schools, and local leadership to ensure that 100% of children in a community have access to free arts education. After achieving this milestone in Miami Gardens, Young Musicians Unite (YMU) launched a South Dade Alliance, uniting organizations in offering comprehensive arts programming across 19 schools and other underserved sites in this community. This year, we passed the torch to Young Musicians Unite as they continue to advance this effort — one neighborhood at a time — to ensure that every child in Greater Miami can experience the benefits of the arts.