Born in Boston and raised in San Diego’s inner city, Bithyah Israel grew up very aware of the differences between her life and the lives of her more affluent peers. “There’s a social benefit to being more financially stable and you pick up on that as a child… [Kids] who are doing great things are celebrated publicly. ‘This kid is an amazing gymnast, or this kid’s dad is an engineer and helped him with his project.’ You’re just constantly aware of all the ways that other people are just running past you that you have no access to,” Bithyah shared.
Bithyah struggled with housing insecurity and family instability throughout her life, leaving her feeling behind many of her peers. As a young adult, she was given the opportunity to learn to play the cello, an experience which changed her life forever. She went on to participate in youth orchestras, gaining not just performance experience and recognition within classical musical communities, but a greater sense of confidence, identity, and belonging. “When I was given an instrument to learn, it was something tangible that belonged to me. The lessons were for me. Only me.”
In adulthood, Bithyah felt passionate about providing access to musical education to youth growing up in cities. In 2012, she started the organization City Strings United (CSU) with a dream to give back to kids like her own younger self. She developed relationships with local community partners, like the Roxbury 12th Baptist Church and Johnson String Instruments, receiving donated space and discounted instrumental rental rates. Community members caught wind of her work and pitched in to help cover the cost of instruments for her first cohort of students.
She started with twelve students for a three-month cello instruction program. Snippets from their first class are documented and preserved on YouTube, alongside clips of the audience reaction to their three-month recital. “I was trying to prove the concept and I thought that we were going to have to quit, but we never did,” Bithyah explained. Now in 2026, City Strings United serves over 100 kids annually, teaching cello, violin, upright bass, and piano. Their students perform about fifteen times a year in different iterations all over Boston. CSU’s core staff has all been with City Strings for at least a decade.
City Strings United believes in music education as a vessel for youth development. Alongside the technical musical skills their students are learning, youth are able to grow immensely as individuals and as members of their community. “When you put an instrument in a child’s hand… the ownership that you’re giving a child is huge. An identity. ‘Oh, I play the cello. I play the violin. I play the piano.’ Now you’re helping them with an identity, something that they can boast about, be glad about,” Bithyah described. Students learn to collaborate in a group, to be able to practice and develop a skill, and to take pride in their own work and their sense of self.
Over the years she has also witnessed the power of musical education access as a form of social capital for her students. Possessing a highly sought after skill and being part of the historically exclusive community of classical music can open a multitude of doors for a young student who may otherwise not have the financial resources to access these spaces. Regardless of their financial background, participation in their programming allows her students to show their abilities, to demonstrate their intelligence and worth, and to feel confident taking up space in spaces not always welcome to students like them.
City Strings United’s place in their students’ lives is not exclusive to music lessons. “If a child that was previously interested in the program drops off the map and is no longer attending, I know something has happened,” Bithyah shared, “that’s where we make flexible scheduling or we say, ‘let’s just take a break for a month, take care of whatever you need to take care of, and you will still have a place here.’” Despite whatever may be happening in a child’s life, City Strings works to maintain a piece of consistency in their lives and continue giving them something they can hold onto through any hardships that is just for them.
The organization continues to grow, not just in size, but in the depth of the opportunities they are able to provide for their students. CSU has been building paid performance opportunities for students, as well as hiring older students into an apprenticeship program. One of their original 2012 cello students is now a 30 hour a week employee of City Strings, supporting grant-writing, stage management, and more. They are working to expand outside their traditional Saturday classes to afterschool classes through a new partnership with the Boston Center for Youth and Families. Now in their fifth and final year as Lenny Zakim Fund grantee partner, Bithyah is grateful for all she and the CSU team has gained from LZF’s support, both financial and from the Fund’s dedicated staff and informative capacity-building resources. “It’s been great to have this level of investment in a young nonprofit. It’s difficult when you’re considered high risk to some funders,” Bithyah described.
As they approach their 15th year of operation, City Strings is proud to have a dedicated team of leaders and teachers; a community of supporters, parents, and countless incredible current and former students; and a budget that has grown from zero to half a million dollars. Through it all – their mission has stayed the same: making sure every child has the chance to experience the joy of learning music, and to know that they are just as worthy of being a musician as any other child.
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Support City Strings United at their upcoming performances, including their annual fall showcase concert, taking place on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at Roxbury Community College. To learn more about their work, visit City String’s website here, or reach out to their team via their online contact form.
