ASBURY PARK, NJ
Asbury Park is famous as the home of the New Jersey music scene. The city has produced legends like Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi.
But Asbury Park is also home to many families unable to afford music education. Nearly half of the city's children live below the poverty line.
Play It Forward awards four scholarships a year for underserved children in Asbury Park to attend summer camp at the city's renowned 600-student music school, the Lakehouse Music Academy.
Play It Forward also helps fund the music program at Asbury Park's Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School, which serves about 180 students primarily from low-income Latino and Haitian families.
Play It Forward began helping to fund the program in early 2025, after the school learned that a state grant that had funded the program since 2017 was set to expire.