Racine & Me: Nonprofit Dance Academy launches GoFundMe
RACINE, Wis (CBS 58) -- A nonprofit dance academy in Racine needs your help to make a dream come true.
The Sweatshop Movement has from 70-150 members at any given time.
In March of 2020, just five days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down, their dancers placed for the first time ever at a large National Hip Hop Dance Competition series called “Monster’s Dance” at their Chicago Event.
They placed with one routine and as a result were offered a full paid bid to compete in LA at the competition series National Finals, called the “LA Finale”. Because of the pandemic, the LA Finale was cancelled in person & they too were forced to cancel their exciting plans to travel to LA.
They competed virtually, and even secured a National virtual title in their category as well as the Entertainment Award for the competition! But they all missed the opportunity to travel to LA.
In April 2021, they placed in Chicago again, this time without a paid bid to compete, and while they planned to attend, they were ultimately unable to make the trip due to capacity restrictions at the LA Finale. They were unable to fundraise & get tickets to the event on time, with significantly less spots available.
In April 2022, they double qualified to compete in LA. They are finally planning to travel with 16 Racine youth to compete in LA from August 4-7. This is a HUGE opportunity for their Racine kids, one that none before them in Racine have been offered. However, it is but also a huge financial undertaking for the kids in the program.
They are launching a GoFundMe to help fundraise to offset the cost for the kids to travel to LA.
They are a nonprofit program, made up primarily of ‘underserved’ youth of color & lower income families. Many of their dancers are close family members or friends to the recent tragedies of gun violence in Racine.
Youth in the program train for 4-12 hours per week, meet academic requirements all year long, mentor each other & develop a strong brother/sisterhood when participating in our program.
Facebook: facebook.com/SweatshopMovement
Instagram: @sweatshopmovement
TikTok: @sweatshopmovement
Website: www.sweat-move.org