We first mentioned Children Mending Hearts 3 years ago in our post: RAISE Hope for Congo: Activism you can wear. Then a year after, we posted about the Gala Fundraiser organized by CMH on  April 16, 2010 in Hollywood.

Now we have some fresh news: the organization just launched the Global Arts After School pilot program at the Boys and Girls Club in Watts/Willowbrook, Los Angeles.

About the brand new after school program:

CMH After School is a program for middle and high school students designed to foster empathy and cultural understanding through a unique curriculum that integrates hands-on arts learning with social skills training and cultural awareness. Studies show that creativity and empathy are key attributes of successful learners and leaders. It is our goal with this program to work towards developing these characteristics as well as cultural understanding in each and every student we have the opportunity to serve.

CMH After School will offer four concurrent nine-week sessions in fine arts, photography, theatre arts and comic book creation. Students will have the opportunity to choose which artistic modality they would like to study. Each class and class project will incorporate an artistic exchange or “pay it forward” component where the students are required to use their newly acquired skills to improve their community or that of their brothers and sisters in other countries experiencing conflict or the aftermath of a natural disaster.

The CMH 2012 program will be photography and will place a special emphasis on creative outreach to Haitian youth. Just like Max Dana does with her kids workshops and coloring classes, we think an organization aimed to ’empowering disadvantaged youth through educational and arts programs that build empathy and global citizenry‘ is worth our support. And yours as well, you can donate here!

Update: you can vote for Children Mending Hearts at Rush49 – Best of LA Charity on this page.