Mission:
To initiate a series of dynamic, hands-on educational programs designed to introduce children to the songs of Johnny Mercer, Irving Berlin, Ira Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, and all great American songwriters. The group is determined to convey to the nation's kids that these songs belong to everyone and they should embrace them as their own. They're not their grandparents' songs — they are America's musical heritage.

Background:
Founded in honor of the songwriter who penned "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby" and "Jeepers Creepers," the Johnny Mercer Foundation offers a number of educational programs to benefit schoolchildren and musicians. Its Accentuate the Positive program celebrates American popular song by providing schools with curriculum, as well as songwriting and student video projects. Other programs at the foundation help teach inner-city schoolchildren about music, train blind people to read music and play instruments, and support the work of contemporary songwriters.

Thanks to royalties from Mercer's songs, the foundation provides financial support to a number of organizations, including the Audubon Society, the Children's Hospital, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Laurie Strauss Leukemia Foundation, Cancer Research - The Art of the Brain, the Sundance Initiative, the Braille Institute, the Physician Volunteers for the Arts, and KCET Public Television in Los Angeles.

Outstanding Feature:
As part of its Accentuate the Positive program, the foundation has created the student activity guide LyricNOTES. The guide focuses on Mercer's career, discusses the significance of his songs, and explores how the songs apply to the contemporary world. It also explains how songs are made — from writing lyrics to composing melodies. Visitors to the site can peruse selections from the guide (4 pages, PDF) or sign up to receive the complete publication.

To accompany the guide, the site features an online jukebox that plays clips from songs featured in LyricNOTES, including "Moon River" and "That Old Black Magic." Another online feature is the Johnny Mercer Song Database, which is searchable by keyword and offers a record of each Mercer song with the title, copyright date, lyricists, composers, and related production information.