#GiveLikeALocal Please give back with 900 smiles!

Dear Friends, What better way to celebrate the holidays than to see a smile on a child's face. Here at the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative (DC Collaborative,) we have been thrilled to see so many smiles this year. Our 100 members are busy providing brilliant cultural experiences for DC students and we are proud to be the organization that transports students to events. During the past 18 years that we have facilitated this partnership, over 500,000 DC students have seen their first ballet, heard their first opera, visited a museum for the first time, or sat in a theater to see their first play. Aided by pre and post educational plans and teacher training, these children are not only excited but they are engaged and inspired. It is proven children become better strategic thinkers and active community citizens and are more empathic as a result of these cultural experiences. And their smiles are contagious! We will continue to work with our members to help DC Public and Charter Schools provide art and humanities related field-trips. However, due to budget constraints, we are serving only a fraction of the neediest students. And we think that is a shame! In a city with an abundance of cultural assets there is no reason students should not have opportunities to explore the arts and humanities. We owe them the privilege of access and the chance to learn and grow, as well as discover potential arts related careers. Now you can help us to provide arts equity for all students. And it is so easy to be a part of the solution! The DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative offers you the opportunity to put a student in a seat on the next field trip bus. Students come from all 8 wards across the city. You buy the smile that is the result of their experience! Really.... it is that easy! Please go to www.DCCollaborative.org/donate, and for $15 you buy a smile! While you are there you might want to buy more than one smile....it is the holidays and the donations are tax deductable! Our goal for the holiday season is to fill 30 buses... Or, to create 900 smiles. Join us now!