Congratulations to Camp Spin-Off! Their awesome mashup of summer camp and DJ school picked up the Los Angeles chapter’s February grant! Camp Spin-Off is the world’s only DJ and music production sleepaway camp for teenagers, where aspiring mixmasters get a chance to experience music and technology in the great outdoors. At their location in the Ojai Valley, campers get to learn things like music production and mixing or how to DJ on turntables, alongside classic camp activities like hiking, swimming and rock climbing…all capped off by a party featuring a special celebrity guest DJ! Camp Spin-Off is a volunteer-run organization, and 100 percent of their funds go towards running the camp and providing scholarships for underprivileged youth. With the money from the Awesome Foundation grant, Camp Spin-Off will be able to provide a week of music and fun to five Los Angeles area kids. For encouraging kids to get in touch with their creativity and explore the world of music, Camp Spin-Off is truly awesome! For more information, check out campspinoff.com, and watch the video below to hear some of tomorrow’s hottest DJs talk about their time at Camp Spin-Off.

The Compton Chess Club is in check. A check for a thousand bucks, to be precise. The Los Angeles chapter of the Awesome Foundation has awarded Compton Chess Club its August grant. Founded by the Inner-City Mining Company, a mentoring organization that focusses on African-American inner-city males, the Compton Chess Club brings the ancient game to a whole new audience of young minds. But the club does more than just teach kids the rules. As the founders put it, “The game is an excellent tool to help formulate a strategic mindset. It forces you to be aware of your actions and those of your opponent. You learn about sacrifice and what needs to be valued.” You can read more about the organization’s mentoring efforts at innercitymining.com. Congratulations to ICMC and the awesome Compton Chess Club for being our August grant recipients! We here at LA Awesome are just happy to help, even if we don’t know a bishop’s pawn from a Sicilian Defense.