Community Music School has been awarded a $15,000 capacity-building grant through the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation CORE Fellowship to support the 2025-2026 Allentown School District Community Music Scholarship Program at CMS.
Along with other Lehigh Valley nonprofit leaders from organizations such as ArtsQuest, Fine Feather Foundation, and Valley Youth House, CMS Executive Director Jeff Reed and former Assistant Director, Operations & People Laura Burcaw represented CMS as Fellows in LVCF’s CORE Fellowship Program.
LVCF’s CORE Fellowship is a two-year capacity-building program designed to bring Lehigh Valley nonprofit leaders together to center equity in themselves, their relationships, their organizations, and the Lehigh Valley nonprofit sector. The program consists of peer-to-peer learning, individual coaching, consultant pairing for an organization equity discovery process, and funding to support organizational capacity-building. The fellowship is designed for both nonprofit leaders and their organizations to support equitable change in delivering on their personal and professional mission. The program also provides a $15,000 grant for an equity-centered capacity-building project in its second year. This project is selected with guidance from the host organization and the Fellows, focusing on equity-centered capacity building. Participating organizations receive the funding, and Fellows receive leadership development, guidance from consultants, and access to a network of other nonprofit leaders.
Through support from LVCF’s CORE Fellowship Fund, CMS is pleased to announce that free group classes are now available to Allentown School District students who qualify. Current group classes include Modern Band, Kindermusik, Intro to Piano, and Intro to Music Production. To be eligible for the 2025-2026 Allentown School District Community Music Scholarship Program, students must be 18 or younger or completing their senior year of high school, attend a K-12 school in the Allentown School District, not be currently enrolled at Community Music School, and come from a low-to-moderate-income family that qualifies for CMS financial aid. Eligible ASD students and their families can learn more and apply here: https://cmslv.org/asd-community-music-scholarship-program/.
This grant is awarded through the LVCF and is made possible by the generosity of fund holders who contribute to foundation-directed grantmaking.
We thank the LVCF for supporting these opportunities for ASD students at CMS!