Music Youth Partnership is on the move, breaking down barriers to music education in Wichita public schools. 

Recently, MYP had their first major instrument donation to local Wichita classrooms, dropping off 23 instruments at middle schools across USD 259. “The teachers were so profoundly impacted by the fact that we were just bringing in these instruments for their kids,” said treasurer, Becker Truster. “They have had kids who want to be involved in band and can’t, and we just made their lives so much easier, and they were so thankful for it.” 

This unique organization, through its mission of music, hopes to see increased graduation rates, reduced risk behaviors, and academic growth in the middle and high school music students they serve, helping them become well-rounded individuals with strong character. 

“I don’t think we really do music, or at least music is not the aim of what we do. Music is wonderful, right, but we’re really interested in the character development of the underprivileged kids that we’re serving. Music is just a tool for that,” Truster said. 

In addition to providing instruments for at-risk youth, MYP also brings high-quality musical mentors into the classroom to work in small groups on musical achievement, weaving character development into their curriculum.

MYP’s extraordinary ability to reach the needs of these students and teachers comes from the generosity of Wichita businesses. Truster revealed the impact of small businesses that have supported them through significant donations of both money and items for silent auctions, banks that have assisted with donations, and Damm Music’s generosity in reduced-cost instrument repair and the use of their facilities as a community location for instrument donation. 

Wichita’s support of this exceptional nonprofit all stems from the generous gift of an anonymous local businesswoman in MYP’s early days. “She said, ‘This is your seed money. I’m going to start your organization. Use this and run with it.’ That seed money has been the whole ability of our organization to actually execute and perform on the programs we want to do.”

Truster was absolutely overwhelmed by the impact of that support at MYP’s Jazz for a Cause event in April earlier this year. “I was able to attend the dinner with about 200 to 225 other people (we filled out the entire room at Prairie Hill Vineyard) and I knew that all of those people cared about Music Youth Partnership,” he said. “That was the most fulfilling part. It was a vote of confidence to see 200 or so people in person who cared about our organization, and to know we had their support and that they were interested in where we are going.”

Along with the rest of the MYP team, Truster looks forward to the backing of the Wichita business community and the city as a whole at the Gifts of Music Gala, Music Youth Partnership’s semi-formal event on December 10, 2023. The gala will begin at 5 p.m. in the beautiful Petroleum Club on the top floor of the Ruffin building. Guests will enjoy a full dinner with entertainment from the Friends University Flute Choir and from Groove 42, an accomplished headliner band who will feature horn players from the schools that Music Youth Partnership supports.