Community Records – A community partner with a beat

Written by: Justin Fenwick, CRL3C

As a community partner, we are eager to work with service-learning programs. Community Records L3C (CRL3C) focuses on building communities through music. The built-in learning goals of a service-learning program fit well into the educational outcomes and connections to community issues we strive to make while taking individuals through the creative process.

Our Healthy Habitats project with the Willow Run School system through Learn and Serve - Bright Futures was a prime example. Our project involved Elementary, Middle, and High School students. (This includes gifted students, advanced placed students along with regular education students). The goal was to help the students develop awareness that they can impact the community and environment around them.

By focusing on a creek in the Huron River Watershed, the students investigated to find out what was needed to make it "healthy," including a process of taking water samples. CRL3C helped the students put music to their learning. By encouraging students to use their creativity in music, they begin to develop the internal power and skills needed to change the world. This works well with any issue that is tangible to a student, like the rivers in their own back yard. Music and songwriting provides a creative process that allows youth to better express themselves and learn from the project at hand.

“Creativity is more than a component of coping; it is a facet of our inner selves that enables us to develop perspective & flexibility, both of which help us to be more resilient. As I have watched my children grow, I have seen first-hand how creative expression can give kids a voice to articulate their emotions as well as a way to lose themselves in the act of creation.”

- Kenneth Ginsburg, MD from Building Resilience in Children & Teens
(American Academy of Pediatrics, 2006)

The ability to collectively write, record, and share music pairs responsibility and learning with fun.

CRL3C has partnered on other service-learning projects; including topics of community gardening and the respect of animals. We use music as a tool to better reach youth and give them voice into a community, often for the first time.

CRL3C is a social mission organization that builds local community, inspiring and creating relationships by bringing together diverse populations through collaborative participation in music & music education. This includes songwriting and music production, artistic collaborations, supporting local music, consulting using the creative process, and a deep commitment to community involvement and events. We create relationships with people, organizations, and communities to produce creative solutions to social barriers using art. We promote positivity in music workshops, producing music that is suitable for young people and families.

"We support you creating the most beautiful image of your world."

CRL3C can be reached at (734) 213-2733 or info@crl3c.org.