In an economy when many large corporations are receiving bailouts from the government, it is always refreshing to learn of those organizations that are still going strong and able to give to their community. JPMorgan Chase and Target are two companies that, no matter how large they grow, are still helping to nourish the communities which helped make them household names.
Theatre Arlington (TA) is the grateful recipient of grant money from JPMorgan Chase and Target totaling $8,500 to support the theater’s valuable ACT UPS program, one of the theater’s extensive outreach efforts.
ACT UPS (Applied Creative Thinking Using Performance Skills) is an exemplary program combining theater games and acting exercises to help improve the self-esteem, confidence, problem-solving and life skills of inner city at-risk adolescents. Theatre Arlington currently partners with two Title 1 schools in the area and focuses on the fifth-grade students at those schools. The ACT UPS teacher, Maggie Younkin, works closely with school teachers to incorporate school curriculum into the ACT UPS program, and the teachers, in turn, participate by incorporating ACT UPS materials and activities into their daily lessons.
Both JPMorgan Chase and Target have long-standing commitments to improve the quality of life in the communities they serve and where their employees live and work. The philanthropic goal of JPMorgan Chase is “be the catalyst to meaningful, positive and sustainable change within our highest need neighborhoods and communities across the globe.” Target offers several grants to non-profits and organizations focused on education, arts and culture and social services.
With the economy taking its toll on many businesses, funding from organizations such as these is vital to a non-profit like Theatre Arlington, and funding for the ACT UPS program at TA is especially important when realizing the impact it has on children’s lives.
Maggie Younkin sees a change in her students beginning the very first day of class. “At the beginning of the year, to stand up in front of a class and answer a simple question is intimidating to most of them. Some of them don’t speak any English. By the end of the year, they are standing up in front of their school, performing and delivering lines.
“ It is a huge accomplishment for them,” observes Younkin, “and the confidence they gain is something they will carry with them outside of theater.”
