PMHU Brings Music for the Future to San Bernardino MAP Residency

In late October, Project: Music Heals Us brought its Music for the Future program to the Multi-dimensional Anti-recidivism Partnership (MAP) Program in San Bernardino, California — a collaborative re-entry program designed to help individuals transition back into their communities through education, vocational training, and healing practices.

Through performance, dialogue, and shared creative exercises, the residency offered MAP participants new ways to process emotion and rediscover confidence. For the musicians, it reaffirmed that healing through music is reciprocal: transformation flows in both directions.

Led by teaching artists Michael Shofi (guitar), Jeremy Klein (viola), and Julia Lee (cello), and coordinated by Jenn O’Brien, the weeklong residency offered a space for creativity and self-expression to students who were formerly incarcerated or participating in MAP’s GED and life-skills classes.

 

“Our main goal was to make everyone feel comfortable enough to express themselves,” Jenn O’Brien shared. “Many students arrived carrying deep emotions and uncertainty, but as the week went on, they began opening up, writing lyrics, and even performing for each other.”

The intimate class size allowed for more one-on-one guidance and deeper connection. MAP staff provided consistent support and structure, creating an atmosphere that was both safe and empowering.

One participant was initially reserved and resistant to showing emotion. But over the course of the residency, her transformation was profound. With encouragement from the teaching artists, she wrote She’s My Everything, a song honoring her dog — a companion who, as she described, “keeps me accountable” and “is the only one I can fully trust right now.” On the final day, she stood before the class and performed her song — an act that moved everyone in the room.

“By the end of the week,” Jenn recalled, “the amount of hope in that class was insurmountable. People were proud, inspired, and already talking about collaborating after the course was over.”

Moments like these illustrate the power of music to restore confidence, build trust, and create community — even in spaces shaped by trauma and transition.

Music for the Future residencies like the one at MAP reflect PMHU’s broader mission: to create compassionate communities through music. By embedding music within systems of justice, education, and healing, PMHU affirms the transformative potential of creativity in rebuilding lives.

📷 Photos courtesy of PMHU’s Music for the Future Program. Participants signed waivers granting permission for media use.