Richard is a former foster youth with an attitude. He was emancipated from the foster care system at 18, and for the next three years tried his hand at a variety of productive jobs and activities with no success. Richard just wasn’t cut out for anything that he tried. His frustration mounted and his behavior became worse and worse. It was a negative cycle. He would become frustrated with, yet another failure and he would act out. This would then result in his being prohibited or restricted from wherever he was when his bad behavior escalated. He would become even more frustrated, and the cycle would begin again. Richard came to believe that life was not fair and that people were bad. Little by little he burned bridges that he could ill afford to lose, and relationships with people who could help him were soured by his negative attitude and angry outbursts.

When he was in high school Richard became involved in the party scene. “Raving” became his passion and continued with greater frequency as the freedom of emancipation set in. This is all Richard wanted to do or talk about, and he just didn’t understand why everyone else was so disinterested and even hostile at times. He could not understand why his conversation was inappropriate for most environments and would become irate when asked to stop. As we all know, drugs are an integral part of the raving scene, and Richard did his share. He knew that this was not really a healthy choice but thought that it was just part of the “scene” and if he wanted to rave, he had to do drugs. He periodically vowed to stop using drugs (and really meant it each time) but would just fall back into it after a while. This also ate at him and added to his frustration. Gradually, Richard migrated from being just a rave participant to a more active role in the organizing, advertising, and production of these events. He became more and more consumed with these activities but was still very frustrated with why no one else wanted to hear about it and continued with his angry outbursts. XX Foundation (XXF) has been part of Richard’s life for a long time. He has been accessing the programs and services offered by XXF since before his emancipation. He visited the XX Resource Center (XXRC) often after being emancipated and made use of all the resources available to him. XXF staff worked with Richard on numerous occasions to help him find his path, but nothing ever seemed to work for him. XXF staff became frustrated, too, and began to share ideas with each other to find ways to help him. One idea shared was RYTMO because of Richard’s consuming interest in the music field. The more XXF staff discussed RYTMO, the more they became convinced that this was an excellent choice for Richard. RYTMO was contacted for more information, and XXF became even more convinced that Richard would be happy here. The next time Richard visited the XX Resource Center, a staff member discussed RYTMO with him. He immediately became interested and indicated that he would like to be referred. The staff member helped him fill out the application and return it to RYTMO. He then interviewed with RYTMO and was accepted into the next cycle. Everyone, including Richard, held their breath!

A week or so into his RYTMO program, Richard called the XXRC just to say “thank you” for referring him. Wow! This amazed everyone! Richard was thanking someone for something, and he did it on his own! Amazing. Richard went on to say how much he was loving the program and shared what he was doing there. Every week or so Richard would call or come in just to let XXRC staff know how excited and happy he was to be finally learning and doing something he was so interested in. He excitedly shared what his future plans included now – taking all the courses offered by RYTMO and then applying for and attending a trade school in L.A. geared to the music industry that he had learned of through RYTMO. XXRC staff were amazed at the fantastic improvement in Richard’s behavior and outlook on life. What a difference! At the end of the first session, Richard proudly brought in his certificate to show the XXRC staff. He was beaming and very happy. He had finally achieved something of value, and couldn’t find enough ways to say, “Thank you”. XXF staff, in turn, say a big “thank you” to RYTMO for helping to turn this young man around and helping him to find his path. “If you wanna learn anything about music, come to RYTMO. There’s a lot of love in that place.” The program is really beneficial and allows you to take your career (whatever occupation) to the next level.” “RYTMO takes your talents and passion to the next level.” “RYTMO gives to young people who wouldn’t otherwise have the resources, see success through music. It’s a life-changing, self-esteem-building organization.”
“RYTMO gives them so much more that they can’t get it anywhere else. It gives them a second chance. It doesn’t dismiss kids but pours love into them.”
“RYTMO is dedicated to assisting foster, homeless, and troubled youth in pursuing their dreams in the music industry.”