Harmony Project KC is turning Kansas City kids into musicians who earn college scholarships

Harmony Project KC started at Kansas City’s Northeast Community Center seven years ago, with 33 low-income students getting free instruments and music lessons every week. Now more than 260 kids are in the program — and a few are gearing up to graduate.
When Scuola Vita Nuova Charter School outgrew Kansas City's Northeast Community Center at 544 Wabash and moved out in 2014, it provided an opportunity to create something new.

"It was an empty campus with so many possibilities in front of it," says the community center's executive director, Kayla Pitts-Zevin, who's been with the organization since 2018.

They asked the community for input, Pitts-Zevin says, and heard there was a need for after-school educational programming for kids.