Third Annual TRANS4M Concert Benefitting the i.am.angel Foundation Raises $2.5 Million

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- International recording artist, frontman for The Black Eyed Peas, entrepreneur and philanthropist will.i.am announced today that his third annual TRANS4M Concert benefitting the i.am.angel Foundation raised more than $2.5 million dollars last night, January 23, 2014. Concert proceeds benefit the i.am.angel Foundation's mission to continue and accelerate TRANS4Mation in the Boyle Heights community of East Los Angeles, and the promotion and expansion of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education around the world.

The benefit concert featured two hours of hip hop, R&B and the sounds of Brazil on stage at the Avalon Hollywood.  Headliners included will.i.am, Chaka Khan, Sergio Mendez, Bell Biv DeVoe, Biz Markie, Doug E. Fresh, Scarface, Slick Rick, Cody Wise, Leah McFall and We Are The Future performed on stage to help keep 1,800 guests dancing in the aisles on Thursday night.

The TRANS4M concert was an evening of celebration, thanks and acknowledgment of many patrons, donors, staff and volunteers who support and manage the i.am.angel Foundation's programs that are helping to transform and reinvigorate will.i.am's hometown neighborhood of Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles.  TRANS4M is a movement that seeks out large, chronic problems and leverages collaborative efforts among businesses, non-profits, government, and community volunteers to accelerate new thinking and solutions.

During the evening, i.am.angel foundation President will.i.am and TRANS4M Curator and Futurist Brian David Johnson introduced Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti and Roosevelt High School Principals Randy Romero and Bruce Bivins on stage to talk about the positive, actionable results that the foundation and its programs are achieving in Boyle Heights.

i.am.angel Foundation Program Results

The foundation's i.am College Track program has raised community expectations, with student attendance now up to 97%, and grade point averages are rising, i.am College Track has relocated from temporary trailer classrooms with a capacity of 60 students to a dedicated and fully renovated building that can serve up to 300 students.   i.am College Track is currently working with 120 students, and plans to increase this number in 2014.  The program now has a waiting list of 200 students seeking places to attend i.am College Track.  With support from the i.am College Track staff, parents, teachers at Roosevelt High School and community volunteers, students in the program are engaging in positive activities including robotics teams, civic hackathons and meaningful summer projects, rather than succumbing to the pressures of gangs, violence and drugs.  i.am College Track students are well on their way to finishing high school, and achieving grades required to apply to, and then attend college.  97% of these students will be the first in their family to attend college.

Innovation Center to Open in Boyle Heights

The i.am.angel foundation is teaming up with Chase to convert Chase's 8,500 square foot Home Ownership Center office location in Boyle Heights into the Boyle Heights Innovation Center.  Chase is sponsoring the i.am.angel Boyle Heights Innovation Center to establish a community-based STEAM program to teach robotics, engineering and coding.   Dassault Systemes, Google, and HP will be making in-kind contributions of computers and equipment.  The Innovation Center, which will also serve as the new headquarters of the i.am.angel Foundation plans to open its doors in Q1, 2014.

TRANS4M Movement Expands to New Locations

Building on the success and positive results being achieved in Boyle Heights, will.i.am and Brian David Johnson also announced the expansion of the TRANS4M movement that will include a standalone TRANS4M event to take place in Detroit, Michigan and a special panel session that will take place in Europe.   MIDEM, the international music business conference, will host the first-ever European TRANS4M panel event curated by will.i.am, "Entertainment as a TRANS4Mation Driver."

TRANS4M Detroit will take place in September, 2014. The Detroit conference and benefit concert will be hosted by Dan Gilbert, Chairman and Founder, Quicken Loans. i.am.angel foundation Advisory Board member Dennis Archer, Jr. will help shape the conference program as part of the TRANS4M Detroit event leadership committee. The conference will also receive support from Michigan-based businesses and national philanthropic organizations to be announced.

MIDEM attendees will be introduced to the TRANS4M movement by will.i.am on February 1, 2014.   A TRANS4M-themed panel will immediately follow will.i.am's opening keynote remarks to explore how the dynamic of direct artist-fan connections places the entertainment industry in an advantageous position to drive positive social change. The panel discussion will focus on the TRANS4M movement and its mission to help technology innovators, brands and music makers work together more closely to TRANS4M society for the better.

i.am.angel Foundation Donor and Partner Recognition

Major foundation donors and partners were recognized during the evening, including: JP Morgan Chase, will.i.am, Emerson Collective, Rock Ventures, Ron Conway, Silicon Valley Family Foundation, Unite 4: Good, Dassault Systemes, Hertz Lichtenstein & Young LLP, Live Nation, Nigro Karlin Segal Feldstein & Bolno, Rocketpop Management, Morgridge Family Foundation, The California Endowment, 3DS, Avi Reichental, Beatris Solis, Bill Price, BMG Chrysalis, Claudio Chiuchiarelli, Creative Artists Agency, David Bolno, Frank Torre, General Electric, Greg Cunningham, i.am Bizzy, Ignition Media, Jackmont Hospitality, Jerry Lundergan, Kathlyn Mead, Ken Hertz, Kind Snacks, Kuji Chahal, Lockheed Martin, Morad Fareed, Noah Goodhart, PayPal, Polo Molina, Radj Fernando, Raytheon, Red Light Management, Salesforce.com, Seth Friedman, Shoeline.com, Target, Toby Blue, Vincent Pla and Zander Lurie.

About the i.am.angel foundation

will.i.am created the i.am.angel foundation to TRANS4M lives through education, inspiration and opportunity.  The private foundation was launched in 2009 with a mission to provide assistance to needy college-bound students through a program entitled i.am.scholarship.  Since that time, the foundation has grown to offer and operate programs including "i.am.home" to provide mortgage relief and financial literacy assistance, "i.am College Track" to work with students from will.i.am's home town (Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles) throughout high school to best prepare them for college, and  "i.am.STEAM" to encourage education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art and math.  The foundation is fortunate to be working with partner organizations to help administer and fund these ambitious programs including College Track, the California Endowment, JP Morgan Chase Global Philanthropy and others.  To learn more about the foundation, please visit www.iamangelfoundation.org.

About TRANS4M

The TRANS4M benefit concert series is part of will.i.am's larger mission to drive positive transformation in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles where he grew up.  Founded in 2013, the number 4 in TRANS4M represents the four pillars and driving forces involved in improving the state of chronic societal problems: business, government, non-profits and community volunteers.

About i.am College Track

i.am College Track, an after-school tutoring program that serves 120 college-bound high school students who attend Roosevelt High School.  i.am College Track students receive intensive tutoring and instruction that is the equivalent of one extra year of high school. For students in the program, many will be the first in their family to ever apply to and then attend college.  Topics of study include robotics, code writing, math, science, and Mandarin Chinese language and culture instruction. Students also participate in enrichment activities and field trips such as summer trips to China to learn Chinese and about the culture of the country; trips to Washington, DC to learn civics and how government operates; invitations to speak and present projects at technology industry conferences such as the ESRI Users Conference; and attending educational workshops at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to learn about the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. 

ABOUT Midem

Midem is the largest annual international b2b event dedicated to the new music ecosystem, with a tradeshow, conferences, competitions, networking events and live performances. Midem brings together more than 6,400 participants from 75 countries. The 48^th edition will take place in Cannes, France from 1-4 February, 2014. It's the place where music makers, cutting-edge technologies, brands & talents come together to enrich the passionate relationship between people & music, transform audience engagement and form new business connections. Visit www.midem.com to learn more.

Editor's note:  images and video clips from event are available upon request

SOURCE i.am.angel Foundation