Nonprofit provides kid-safe music

Nonprofit provides kid-safe music

One year ago, Scripps Ranch native Julie Rose was working behind a desk in an office. Today, she heads up her own nonprofit, known as the Playlist and Musical Research Foundation.

The nonprofit’s purpose is to organize and distribute age-appropriate and positive music for use by the community, or, as she describes it, “to make Healthy Music easily available for teachers, students and families.”

The nonprofit works to compile playlists of songs that are deemed “free from references to harmful behaviors like violence, addiction, racism, sexual harassment and poor language,” and then distributes these playlists to be used in a variety of settings.

It was last year when Rose decided to start this nonprofit, but she’s been working on this project for much longer than that.

“I have been analyzing music for years, mostly for personal use or when working with youth,” she explained.

It wasn’t until her youngest daughter complained about her school not having appropriate music on hand that she decided to do something about it. As Rose puts it, “It would be easier for me to ignore the issue, but I found this to actually be a secret irritation amongst many teachers and parents.”

With that in mind, she was on a mission.

“I decided to figure out how best to get healthy music options to our teachers (and parents and youth) the easiest and cheapest way possible for them,” she said.

From there, she left her office job and established the Playlist and Musical Research Foundation.

“It was a difficult decision to leap outside of my comfort zone, but I felt compelled,” Rose said.

But she could not do this alone. As she explained, the Scripps Ranch community as a whole has been an integral part of the foundation’s progress so far.

“I have a great board of directors, two of which are Scripps Ranch residents: Carolyn Walker and Alexis Coberly,” Rose said.

She describes them as instrumental in keeping the foundation on target, playing important roles in it achieving its mission. Furthermore, Rose has found friends in the community through collaborating on playlists for the foundation.

“My favorite collaborative experience was working with Connie Corn, a professional recording artist, Scripps Ranch resident and neighbor,” she said.

“Connie was instrumental in helping me compile a Black History Month playlist that travels through history with classic songs in mostly chronological order … all healthy music,” Rose said.

In Rose’s own words, “Every teacher I contact is grateful and excited about what we are starting to achieve.”

Gwen Smith, a Scripps Ranch local as well as a third-grade teacher, described the nonprofit as just what she needed.

“Teachers are busy,” Smith explained. “We know music enhances learning, but we don’t have the time to preview appropriate content and create the playlists we really want. This is the answer we need.”

Moving forward, Rose said that the best way the community can help is through sponsorships.

“Starting a grassroots campaign costs money,” she said. “In order to accomplish our goals, we need funding.”

Currently, the Playlist and Musical Research Foundation is seeking corporate sponsors, that would be included on their social media pages and other promotional materials. Rose implores anyone interested in helping the nonprofit reach out to her at julie.rose858@gmail.com, or to connect with the foundation on Facebook at facebook.com/playlistfoundation/. All Healthy Music playlists are on Spotify; enter julie.rose858 in the search bar.