The activity room at Broadview Shelter and Transitional Housing is brimming with a cheerfully chaotic strumming of ukuleles when Chloe’s voice breaks through the din: “Ready? One, two, three, four!”

And with that, a loose band of budding musicians slips into a rendition of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” with older kids strumming out new chords they just learned and younger ones jamming along however feels right. Chloe, a teacher with Mode Music & Performing Arts (MMPA), sings above the joyful clamor: “Here’s a little song I wrote/ You might want to sing it note for note.” 

This is one of the weekly ukulele classes that have been a fixture at Broadview since last fall, when Solid Ground partnered with MMPA to create a casual, drop-in music program for the children of domestic violence (DV) survivors who’ve come to Broadview to escape their abusers and begin building new lives.

The classes are part of a suite of programs at Broadview designed to provide children with safe spaces to experience healthy relationships with adults and peers, and rebuild social, emotional, and academic strengths after traumatic experiences with homelessness and DV. 

“These are kiddos who aren’t having the smoothest time at school. They’ve had some really rough experiences that are disruptive to feelings of safety,” says Amy H., the Children’s Program Supervisor at Broadview. “Often, they’re in fight-or-flight mode, as are their parents, so we want to give them what feels like a more normal space to explore activities they haven’t had a chance to experience before.” 

Broadview has been doing this work for 40 years, but the ukulele program is a new innovation. It started when Amy’s partner, violin maker Duane Lasley, donated two-dozen powder-blue ukuleles to Broadview so the children living there – typically 65 to 80 at any given time – would have a chance to experience a new instrument. Amy saw the opportunity for a new program and connected with MMPA, a Seattle nonprofit that works to create more opportunities for children to experience music education. 

“When you’ve escaped domestic violence, it’s so nice to have a safe place for your kid to go and connect with another adult, especially when they’re in a space with other kids all working toward the same goal, to learn a song or an instrument,” says Erin Rubin, MMPA founder and a DV survivor herself. “Music is just such a happy place.” 

MMPA teachers have led two six-week sessions since the partnership began, along with a handful of classes for mothers and toddlers. The youth classes are held at the same time each week, and kids are free to drop in to as many as they like. They can also bring a ukulele back to their apartment to practice in between classes and even take it with them when they move out of Broadview. 

“I honestly feel like it’s a real honor to teach here,” says Chloe, who started teaching at Broadview in January. “I know what it means. I understand very personally what it means to just have a moment that is normal in a time in your life that is really full of a lot of upheaval, and there’s a lot going on, and it’s very stressful – especially when you’re a kid. Just to have someone come in and be normal with you – and just have fun with you and treat you like everything’s cool when some things are not that cool – it’s just really nice. It’s like an island, right?” 

Chloe makes sure to weave lessons about the cultural history of the ukulele and its significance in Native Hawaiian culture into her lessons about chords and fret positions. During a recent class, she paused between songs to talk with the children about the Hawaiian alphabet, the dual meanings embedded in its language, and the contributions of Native Hawaiian musicians. 

“We have to spend time talking about the cultural origin of the instrument, because it’s an amazingly important cultural icon for Hawaiian people to this day,” says Chloe, who is not Hawaiian herself but grew up surrounded by Native Hawaiian culture while living in the Bay Area and visiting family in Oʻahu. 

The ukuleles have also started to reach beyond the classes and into other aspects of life at Broadview. One youth recently wrote a ukulele song about group therapy sessions, and another asked that playing his instrument be included in his individualized education program at school because it helps him relax. 

“So if he’s getting stressed, if he’s having a tough time regulating himself, one of the things he can do is go play the ukulele,” says Amy. “He chose that as something to do to de-escalate. He says it helps him feel better.”

Want to learn more about how Broadview helps DV survivors escape their abusers and start new lives? Read our blog post, Reclaiming ‘humanity’ after surviving trauma.