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KOREA DAILY newspaper article
December 28, 2016

“Should return the dream of homeless children”

Yeon Hee Chang, Director of IPAA nonprofit organization, has developed ‘The Angeles Youth Choir.’

The Los Angeles homeless situation is getting worse and worse and in this circumstance, one organization is educating youth and single moms in the center of the concentrated area. At Central City Community Center in down town, International Performing Arts Academy (IPAA) is doing the education on a volunteer basis.

IPAA Director Yeon Chang said, “The problems of homeless children and single moms are increasing every year, and this has entered as far as Korea town. So I started to help them.” Skid Row in DTLA is the epicenter of the homeless area in the California.

Director Chang first knew about the children in the homeless area in December 2012. “I couldn’t shake off their aimless eyes. I think singing is best way to get to know them so first I started “The Angeles Youth Choir.” Then I started to let parents know my plan about the youth choir.

It was a great plan but Director Chang did not have any experience distinguishing what homeless children’s different needs were so she faced all kind of difficulties. She secured a room to have music classes here and there. Even so, it was not easy to explain the value of education to the parents of homeless children. “The parents must renew the shelter every one and a half months, and in this desperate situation, they must concentrate on living necessities (food, clothing and shelter). Education is just a luxury issue for them.

A poor country is more accustomed to dealing with issues of poverty, but here in the United States, a country of abundance, dealing with issues of poverty are more difficult. For example, single moms in the United States have to protect their children from alcohol and drug temptations. The difficulty of their tense life is beyond description.
“In this situation, convincing them about the importance of education was very difficult. One mother told me ‘our children don’t know how to sing.’ Most teenagers don’t know how to send an email. Homeless children have no dreams and no hope.”

Director Chang decided to challenge this problem with music. After for a few months, putting her heart into it, the music classes filled up with laughing sound. Now when Director Chang is walking along Skid Row, some homeless people greet her with “Chang, Chang how is music class going?”

Director Chang plans to have a street cleaning program for youth and a homeless children homework tutoring program starting next spring. For these programs, she expects participation from other nonprofit organizations as well as homework tutoring volunteers.

Director Chang produced a program “Midnight Serenade”, at TBC, a Korean television station. In 1982, she moved to the USA and she produced ‘The Johnny Yune Show’ and others. In 1999, she established IPAA for youth education with Rick Jackson, at Caltech, Pasadena California, and Film Director Charles Burnett.

Contact: yeonchang0777@gmail.com

(Photo): Music class filled up with laughing sound. From left side, Pastor Stallworth who provided facility, International Performing Arts Academy (IPAA) Director Yeon Chang, Voice coach Joseph Warren. (Photo provided by IPAA)

Reporter, Yoohoi Ahn