Over 25 years ago, Andrew Cacho started teaching African dance and drumming to youth at Friendship House, a community center in Washington, DC. When he saw how young people responded, he developed a new organization to focus on these art forms and African cultures. The mission of Cacho's Program is to provide youth with positive alternatives in their lives. Three evenings a week and on Saturday afternoons, participants come together to learn about African cultures through dancing, drumming and mask-making in anticipation of mounting a final production. There is a daily summer program in which young people are paid for participation through a government youth employment initiative. Fifteen children have been with the Program for almost a decade, and a number have gone on to earn college degrees.