Mind&Melody, Inc.

Over seven years, I’ve devoted my life to bringing one of humanity’s gifts, music, to individuals living with dementia, Alzheimer’s and related neurological impairments.

We have witnessed music, and human connection transform seniors’ moods and help them regain pieces of themselves that may have seemed lost forever. They may not remember your name, but remember how you made them feel. 

Isolation, anxiety, depression has become a prominent part of seniors' everyday lives and have been exacerbated during the pandemic. Caregivers mention, “Mom looks forward to your program all week!” 

From our musicians,volunteers, participants, families, and caregivers – we bring life back into homes and healthcare facilities that desperately need it.

During the pandemic, we realized the potential to scale our programs worldwide through technology and we are ready.

The Elevate Prize funding, mentorship, and network will help in: 

1. Streamline operations from scheduling systems to a centralized system for all data. 

2. Marketing & visibility to nationally highlight stories and amplify them through digital marketing strategies

3. Create a fundraising strategy to expand our team.  

  Mentorship has played a pivotal role in Mind&Melody’s growth, and expertise in these areas will elevate our organization to the next level. 

The intersection between art and science has always fascinated me. I started the cello at 10, and at age 14, while I volunteered at a hospital,  the concept of Mind&Melody occurred to me: I dreamt of making music accessible to people that would benefit from it. I wanted to bring music to older adults while engaging young people in the process.

During college, we partnered with a Memory Center for a pilot program. There, I met David - a professional violinist who had stopped playing due to dementia. He would spend his days sitting quietly, withdrawn, with a blank stare. However, when we brought him a viola, he lit up and, smiling from ear to ear, gave us a glimpse of who the real David was.

Since then, I have dedicated myself to Mind&Melody. Initially, all we had were $300 dollars and a vision to see seniors with Alzheimer’s treated with love and dignity. Seven years later, we have impacted over 2,000 lives and generated over $1 million dollars.

In the next two years, we plan to scale nationally so seniors aging in place have access to engaging music programs that improve their mood and quality of life.

Over six million Americans are affected by Alzheimer’s, and this number will triple by 2050. Alzheimer's steals memories, personality, and independence from our loved ones.

Pharmacological treatments seem to lessen cognitive symptoms and maintain functional abilities for some time. (Alzheimer’s Association, 2017).  However, medication alone is not enough to manage symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia and there is no cure.

Music, however, is highly beneficial: 27 studies conducted reported that music positively influences a broad range of outcomes: It alleviates anxiety, promotes relaxation, improves mood, and reduces pain and agitation (Sung, Chang, and Lee 2010).  

This is where Mind&Melody makes a difference.

During our sessions, individuals that are generally despondent play instruments, socialize, sing, conduct live music, and dance.  Our sessions are delivered by professional musicians who are highly trained to communicate and provide music activities to individuals with neurological impairments. Our method allows for participants to retain information in the short term memory while pulling triggers from long term memories, thus resulting in higher participation and engagement. 

Data collected after sessions, we have identified our sessions engage participants socially, cognitively, and creatively as well as improving their mood by, on average, 30%.

Our years of experience and research have allowed us to create a methodology that can be easily taught to professional musicians. It allows for musicians to learn how to engage and communicate with individuals living with cognitive impairments in a clinical setting while using their compassion and skills to improve the lives of seniors. Our organization specializes in neurological impairments and we have worked with individuals of all functioning levels. Additionally, our methodology has proven to be effective in children with autism and young adults with disabilities. 

The impact we are creating goes beyond the room where our work takes place and into the world by molding our team and the people we interact with into empathetic, loving human beings that see the value that someone living with dementia can still bring into this world. We are building generations for the future.

“Your weekly music session lifts my mother's life and soul; You helped reconnect her to beauty, love and music during the darkest of times.”  

This is a quote from a participant’s daughter. This shows how the impact we create goes beyond our sessions.

 To achieve our two-year plan for national scalability, we will take the following steps:

1. Education - We are learning and increasing our organizational capacity, attending workshops in leadership, and fundraising.

2. Digital Marketing - We need a robust digital marketing strategy to help us deploy Facebook and Google Ads as well as SEO campaigns to recruit musicians and reach caregivers and seniors.  Meanwhile, we utilize social media to: (1) change the common perception about seniors with dementia and Alzheimer’s and (2) to establish music as a tool for treatment. 

3. Funding - Providing online services has created an incredible opportunity to expand through technology. To continue to scale and meet demand, however, we need funds to grow our team to support our future partnerships with neurologists, home health agencies, and medicare advantage companies.  We are currently seeking capacity building support and unrestricted funding to grow our team and reach millions of lives. 

Our organization serves individuals living with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and related neurological impairments. We currently serve 500 people on a bi-weekly and weekly basis. Our programs delivered individually and group sessions online through Zoom or in-person. We see the transformations of individuals by their change in behavior. Our sessions go beyond passively listening to music, engaging participants socially, cognitively, and creatively while improving their mood on average by 30%.

We anticipate serving an additional 200 people by the end of 2021 bringing our total served annually to 700. Our growth is based on secured grant funding from multiple funders to expand our programs locally and nationally.

Our programs also impact participant families, caregivers, healthcare staff, musicians, and volunteers. People become more patient, empathetic, and begin to change their perspectives. We see how perceptions change just as it did for one of our caregivers who mentioned: “My husband and I have been shown that there is still something positive going on in Alexandra’s brain. We had all become used to thinking of her as a person with dementia, unable to communicate or appreciate what is happening around her.”

In the next two years, we plan to position our organization to scale nationally in order to ensure seniors with dementia/related neurological impairments have access to engaging music programs that improve their mood and overall quality of life.

We will position our organization to scale by focusing on the following: 

1. Optimizing our operations to support the expansion of online music sessions nationally. We believe further automation will reduce our team’s time on manual data entry and management. 

2. Expanding our network of mentors specializing in digital marketing, insurance, and service distribution. We are looking for experienced members that have grown an online service-based business.

3. Recruiting team members to increase organizational capacity

4. Developing a robust digital marketing strategy to help us reach caregivers, neurologists, and seniors online. 

5. Seeking capacity building support and unrestricted funding support #1-4. 

We measure progress by setting milestones and measuring our results with the intended outcomes. We have started to work on our plan but need mentorship and funding to accomplish the rest. For example, one of our goals this year was to hire a part-time recruiter to help us recruit more musicians. We have met that goal and are expanding our team of musicians locally. 

Our goal is to optimize our operations and expand our team in order to position our organization for national expansion via online sessions. The current barriers to accomplishing our goals in the next year include: transitioning to a hybrid model of in-person and virtual sessions, finding capacity building funding to expand our team, finding experts in medicare advantage supplemental benefits, and developing a strong digital marketing strategy to help find seniors aging in place. 

We are also seeking capacity building funding by applying to Elevate Prize, other organizations, and pursuing education/mentorship opportunities. We’ve begun researching software solutions to potentially solve our problem but need more expertise. We are overcoming some of these barriers by recently having hired a recruiter to find more musicians for our in-person programs. 

Winning the Elevate Prize would give us access to the necessary funding, mentorship, and network to: 

1. Streamline operations from scheduling systems to a centralized system for all data. 

2. Create a marketing strategy to amplify our work and increase our reach

3. Develop a fundraising strategy to expand our team.  

  Mentorship has played a pivotal role in Mind&Melody’s growth, and expertise in these areas will elevate our organization to the next level. 

We would leverage the increased exposure to create more interest in our mission which we believe would lead to more people being more inclined to contribute their time and money to our mission. The momentum we will be able to build will allow us to accomplish our goals: secure capacity building funding, obtain key insurance partners, and grants. With a larger audience, we can begin changing the perception of seniors with Alzheimer's, inspire them to spend time with older generations, and in turn, create a generation motivated to do good in the world. With 1 in 9 seniors in the U.S. over the age of 65 living with Alzheimer’s, many families are affected by Alzheimer’s. Engaging these families through storytelling and engaging content is one way to reframe the perception of seniors with Alzheimer’s.  With the increased exposure we anticipate more interest from musicians, which would allow us to keep expanding, and more national coverage on TV shows or news articles.  

Every Mind&Melody team member,  whether it’s a volunteer, contractor, musician, advisory, or board member needs to be dedicated, passionate, and compassionate towards each other and the people we serve. Our work focuses on helping people with disabilities, people of all ages, abilities, cultural backgrounds, race, gender, and orientation. Our dedicated team is diverse in the same ways. We acknowledge each individual's strengths and shortcomings while encouraging them to be their true selves in all that they do. We are sensitive to the needs of the individuals we work with and that is reflected in our work directly with our clients. For example, we have hired musicians with autism to work in our programs and have provided the extra support needed for them to thrive. In 2019, we launched a program for Holocaust survivors. We learned about cultural norms, holidays and reflected them in our programming. The song list was informed by survivors, members of the Jewish Community, and Yiddish and Hebrew playing-musicians. When we enter a new community that is different from our background, we listen deeply and intentionally to the needs and preferences of that community without judgement, but with an open mind and heart.

Our team has a direct connection to the transformative power of music and dementia/Alzheimer’s. In 2014, I met a gentleman at a memory center that completely lit up when we put a viola in his hands. A light switch flipped and I saw the real David. From that moment, I truly understood my life’s mission -- to bring joy and connection to people that need it the most.

 Our background in science, music, social work, and psychology coupled with our passion, dedication, and commitment to the people that we serve allow us to excel in our work. We come into a person’s life when hope seems like it's lost and bring joy, happiness, and hope back into their lives. 

We have a team that has been built on the foundation of trust, respect, and open communication. Despite the challenges that may arise, like rebuilding our programs during COVID, we support and lift each other up. The experiences I have had in our programs over the past 7 years and participating in various social entrepreneurship training workshops have led me to develop the skills to manage multiple grants, a research study, and implement over 6,000 sessions in 100 institutions. 

The second week of March 2020, we were providing 130 sessions a month, running a research study, and just won a $100K capacity building grant to scale, and it was all taken away overnight. 

I never imagined I would have to start from scratch again, but this time, I did it differently.

I wasn’t the same person I was in 2014. I’ve had 7 years of training preparing me for that moment, I was able to keep calm, and knew we would rebuild, despite my advisors not believing in me. 

During COVID, I lead from a place of letting go, something I never did before.

For years, I worked 50-60 hours a week, hardly took breaks, was hard on myself and others to achieve more, but this time around I was kinder to myself and provided the same support for my team, I led from a place of peace and not fear. 

 During this process, I helped one of our musicians develop into our Program Director. He grew confident in his abilities and he played a critical role in rebuilding Mind&Melody. 

Now, we are growing substantially and we are faced with the funding opportunity to scale again.

1. Coors Light Lider of the Year Speech: https://youtu.be/zsYsUvp9TJU

2. Bese Video Sea of Change Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGTpTR3Yfr0&t=13s

3. Legends Radio: https://www.dropbox.com/s/eq3l2dqhllgryag/Community%20Focus%20PROGRAM%20for%209-6%20Mind%20and%20Melody%202020.mp3?dl=0

4. Sample English Coors Light Lideres  Radio Tour Interview: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15o1yLN4zgX_qioNjIxYupSihfLzjKvwO/view?usp=sharing

Coors Light Lider of the Year Radio Tour in English & Spanish: I completed four hours of back to back local and national radio interviews both in English and Spanish in one day. 

5. NPR Sundial - Start at 35min https://www.wlrn.org/show/sundial/2018-07-03/new-florida-laws-growing-food-in-outer-space-neymar-mural-inspire305-grants

Our biggest challenge is scaling. The lack of integration and automation between our scheduling system, recruiting, onboarding, payment systems makes it challenging to support a large expansion and requires additional personnel to help promote services nationwide. Scaling Mind&Melody will require optimization of current technological infrastructure to increase efficiency, and bringing on additional team members in business development, digital marketing, insurance, accounting, and HR/Recruiting to further increase our online sessions fee-for-service model.

The $300K investment will be utilized to hire a consultant to find a custom solution to integrate our systems (Tech Redesign: $20K), Marketing Budget for video creation and ads ($20K), hiring an initial recruiter to help us bring on a part-time accountant and Human Resources specialist, digital marketing expert, fundraiser, and Business Development person specializing in medicare advantage, and operations manager (Team Expansion $260K). 

Our team will focus on scaling the program to seniors aging in place, medicare advantage, and healthcare facilities to convert institutions to fee-for-service customers. Fee-for-service revenue is projected to increase by $650K over two years, which will increase the overall organizational budget to $900K serving 100 facilities/private new clients and impacting over 1,200 people annually. 

Our key partners involve over 40 healthcare facilities across Florida, home health, and care agencies. Many of our current facility partners can refer participants for in-home sessions and facilities that may be interested in our programs, which increases efficiency and ability to implement programs.

We collaborate with a variety of organizations like The South Florida Institute on Aging, AvMed, My Music Match, ChenMed, Urban Health Partners, The Friendship Circle, City of Doral, and many more to create innovative programs and reach more individuals. For example, we are currently working with The South Florida Institute on Aging and Urban Health Partners where we have created an intergenerational music program co-led by Mind&Melody Musicians and 55+ older adults to provide an engaging musical experience for preschools in underserved resourced communities. 

We also work with local universities to find musicians and volunteers. We have a team of over 20 musicians and volunteers with diverse backgrounds and a passion for improving the quality of life of individuals. Our strategic partnership with Florida Atlantic University (FAU) has allowed us to work with interns through scholarships provided thus increasing our capacity. Researchers at FAU and UM are investigating the long-term impact of our programs.