Its programs seek to help jazz and blues musicians in need of emergency funds and connect them with performance opportunities in schools and the community.
Musicians can apply to the foundation's social workers for help with rent, housing, mortgage payments, and health care.
The foundation created a volunteer network of professionals throughout the United States to provide free legal, dental, and other health services when needed.
[1] The organization began with founder Herb Storfer and friends Ann Ruckert, Stella Marrs, Jimmy Owens, Vishnu Wood, Jamil Nassar, Phoebe Jacobs, and Billy Taylor in 1989.
The foundation offered substance abuse programs and began their Monday night jam sessions as a way of hiring musicians in need.
Physician Francis "Frank" Forte led the Dizzy Gillespie Memorial Fund while the foundation referred clients to the hospital for treatment.
The foundation helped musicians in New York City after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by paying their bills and trying to find other venues at which they could perform.
After Hurricane Katrina, Oxenhorn met Agnes Varis at an event hosted by Dick Parsons, telling her about the need to help musicians in New Orleans.