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Youth at Nonprofit HANDY Are Using Music to Express Themselves

Posted at 4:09 PM, Oct 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-10-04 16:09:49-04

Individuals from the nonprofit Helping Abused Neglected Disadvantaged Youth are using music to express themselves.

The album “The Library of Us” was created by HANDY students with the help of Emmy-nominated recording artist Alexander Star.

During the height of the pandemic, Star met with 14 individuals for six weeks via zoom and coached them through the songwriting and recording process.

"We would write bullet points about our fears and insecurities and we would open up about these things and then I would help them turn these bullet points into lyrics," said Star.

The album consists of six chapters focusing on the student's experiences.

"Each chapter goes through the progression of your lowest point to where you are in present time. Chapter one is fear and insecurity. Chapter two is abandonment. Chapter three is insignificance and failure. Chapter four is lessons and realizations. Chapter five is lost and found, have you found yourself. And then chapter six is spirituality," he added.

The goal is to encourage the youth to find their way in life through music.

"It made me feel really good to know that I can put my feelings and emotions and make it into something beautiful," said Tatiana.

"I have a young lady [who] comes to mind. Her expectations of herself when from “I want to, to I will” and that’s the transformative language that we look for when working with our young people and our clients," said CEO of HANDY, Kirk Brown.

"What we’re doing is we’re sharing our experiences, trouble, trials, hopes and ambitions with the world and we want people who can relate to us to know that this exists and to find comfort in it and to vibe to it," said Star.

HANDY will be hosting a live concert on November 20th in Fort Lauderdale. All of the proceeds from the concert will directly benefit HANDY’s youth. You can find more information on their website at handyinc.org