Cowgill, Jonathan2016-03-252016-03-252015https://hdl.handle.net/11299/178457Hopewell Music Cooperative North provides low and no-cost music lessons and ensemble instruction to youth and adults living, working, or going to school on the north side of Minneapolis. The Hopewell mission is to create a diverse community of northside students that grow and discover themselves with self-respect and confidence. The program structure allows students to explore music at their own pace, at a cost that is affordable to their families. Students are provided professional instruction by practicing musicians who work with them weekly for semester-long terms. Ensemble and individual public performance opportunities are also integral to each student’s musical education at the school. In many ways Hopewell Music Cooperative North is unique among youth-serving community music organizations. Its low cost and free music lessons are provided by professional music staff in a neighborhood-based and family-oriented environment, with the intent of fostering diverse community through musical experiences. While a variety of small, medium, and large-size organizations provide music education in differing capacities, none have an explicit vision of offering free music education to underserved youth in the mostly non-white north Minneapolis community. Hopewell is an organization for those who have neither the means nor the connections to get involved in tuition-based organizations – it is an organization that provides instruction to the most vulnerable. Students pay for lessons and ensemble instruction on a sliding scale. The student payment level is determined by free and reduced lunch income guidelines. As the pie chart shows, more than half of all students participating in Hopewell’s programming attend for free, and approximately two-thirds of all students are paying less than full price.This narrative report uses successful evaluative frameworks and case studies to articulate the value of the Hopewell Music Cooperative North. This narrative shows why Hopewell is an integral part of the local community, identifies its unique attributes, and articulates the value of low and no-cost music education organizations in low-income communities of color.enReport