OREANDA-NEWS. January 20, 2016. When asked what music means to them, the 8th graders at Visitacion Valley Middle School in San Francisco respond: everything. There, teacher Lauren Schwartz teaches students drums, keyboard, bass, guitar and vocals every day beginning in sixth grade.

These 8th graders, most of whom had never played an instrument before their first class with Lauren three years ago, played several songs for us, including an original song they’d written themselves- all while rotating instruments each time!  

"I love teaching music to my students because I get to see parts of them that other people don't get to see.  I get to see the students being vulnerable, I get to see the students help each other, I get to see the magic and I get to see them find their inner rock star.  I love my students and I love my job!"

    -Teacher Lauren Schwartz

Ms. Lauren is one of more than 140 teachers in the Bay Area who are a part of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit that has been helping students unleash their inner music-maker through fun, engaging, Modern Band music programs since 2002. They provide teachers like Lauren with the training, curriculum, instruments and equipment necessary to give kids the right to rock. Their teach-a-man-to-fish model has helped support music programs in over 1,700 schools in 30 US cities, giving more than 400,000 students access to music education.

Salesforce is committed to the communities where our employees live and work, and to empowering the leaders of tomorrow. Little Kids Rock is an example of an organization doing just that through a creative, innovative and scalable program. Not only have they been using Salesforce.org technology since 2006, but students have rocked out at Dreamforce four years running and received regular support from employee volunteers.

"Salesforce has been the organizational nerve center for Little Kids Rock. We use it in virtually every aspect of our work. Salesforce not only manages all of our supporters and key relationships, but we also use its powerful tools to evaluate our students' and teachers' progress. We gather and analyze critical programmatic data which helps us make important decisions on how to better serve our kids...We are beyond grateful to Salesforce for the visionary stance they have taken to support our sector's critical work.”

    -Dave Wish, Founder and CEO, Little Kids Rock

The confidence and skills kids gain through the program extends outside the classroom and permeates every aspect of their lives. They’re more confident learners, better friends and bigger dreamers. Salesforce is proud to partner with Little Kids Rock to help power the next generation of rock stars.

As all eyes turn to San Francisco for the big game and we gear up to rock out for a cause at The Night Before Concert featuring Metallica, let’s make this the most giving big game yet, and grant these kids the right to rock.

To donate to Little Kids Rock, visit salesforce.com/rock4kids and share what music education meant to you on social networks using #Rock4Kids.

For more information on Salesforce.org and how it works to support nonprofits through our 1-1-1 model, visit Salesforce.org