NEW YORK, Nov. 14, 2011 -- The Music Empowers Foundation and platinum recording artist and American Idol-winner Kris Allen today announced a new program to support music education programs in public schools. Mr. Allen and Music Empowers have partnered to provide a major grant to DonorsChoose.org, the national online charity that matches individual donors to project requests from teachers in public schools.  The initiative hopes to benefit over 10,000 students by helping to provide music supplies to classroom music programs in high poverty areas across the country.

"We are thrilled with the tremendous support of Kris Allen and the Music Empowers Foundation in helping teachers acquire the music supplies their students need to thrive," says Charles Best, Founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org. "Their commitment will expose thousands of students to music education who may not otherwise have the opportunity."

Funds provided by Music Empowers will be used specifically to match contributions made by individual donors to eligible classroom music projects, under a DonorsChoose.org program called "Double Your Impact."

"Once individual donations total 50% of a music project's cost, Music Empowers will fund the other 50%," explained Andy Davis, founder of Music Empowers Foundation. "If all goes well, we should be able to fund hundreds of these projects and make a real impact in schools where music programs are struggling due to lack of funds."

Kris Allen recently attended Nickelodeon's NickTeen HALO Awards on behalf of Music Empowers and DonorsChoose.org and voiced his support for the joint initiative. "I think DonorsChoose.org is an amazing resource for helping teachers to get the materials they need to do the best job for their students. I am really happy to partner with Music Empowers Foundation to support them and the music teachers and students who will benefit," said Mr. Allen.

In an effort to encourage people to visit the DonorsChoose.org website and contribute to one of the projects eligible for the Music Empowers Foundation matching funds, Kris Allen recorded a special public service announcement which now is airing on television. As revealed in the PSA, he also will be growing a mustache over the next four weeks as a further incentive for his fans to help out.

Individuals wishing to contribute to one of the projects supported by Music Empowers and Kris Allen can go towww.donorschoose.org/KrisAllenStache for a complete listing of eligible projects.

ABOUT MUSIC EMPOWERS

Music Empowers Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit that provides financial support to nonprofits that offer music education programs to communities with limited or nonexistent programs. Since its inception in early 2010, it has awarded nearly half a million dollars in grants to organizations such as The Dr. Phil Foundation, Little Kids Rock, Berklee City Music, Artists Corps of America, The Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium, and DonorsChoose.org.  For more information on Music Empowers please go towww.musicempowersfoundation.org, become a fan on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

ABOUT KRIS ALLEN

Since winning American Idol in 2009, Kris Allen has become a household name.  After releasing his self-titled debut album in 2009 on 19 Recordings/Jive Records, Kris toured the U.S. opening for Keith Urban, Maroon 5, The Barenaked Ladies, and Lifehouse, as well as headlining his own club tour.  His first single "Live Like We're Dying" has sold over 1.6 million copies to date.  Kris currently is recording new material for his second album.

ABOUT DONORSCHOOSE.ORG

Founded in 2000, DonorsChoose.org (www.donorschoose.org) is a nonprofit website where public school teachers describe specific educational projects for their students and donors can choose the projects they want to support.  After completing a project, the donor hears back from the classroom they supported in the form of photographs and teacher thank-you letters.  To date, 198,000 public and charter school teachers have used the site to secure funding for $91 million in books, art supplies, technology and other resources that their students need to learn.  Through DonorsChoose.org, individuals from all walks of life have helped 5.4 million students.

Contact: Andrew Davis

Email: andy@musicempowersfoundation.org

SOURCE Music Empowers Foundation