Founder18
Matthew Vila
17 Y/O•Miami, Florida, USA•Education

Matthew Vila

Won the 2025 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes for founding Harmony Hugs at age 16 — winner profile on Barron Prize (Sept 2025).

What they built

Founded Harmony Hugs in 2023 at approximately age 14–15 — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing free weekly instrumental music lessons to youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Motivated by years of volunteering with Best Buddies and the conviction that special needs youth could thrive through music, Matthew cold-called twelve special education schools until one said yes. He built a structured curriculum integrating ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) music therapy techniques, and secured a national partnership with the Guitar Center Music Foundation to distribute over $18,000 in instruments at no cost to families. Harmony Hugs now serves 70+ youth weekly across 10 South Florida locations with a team of 40+ volunteer student musicians.

View Project

The F18 Thesis

Verified track record

  • Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes 2025 winner profile (age 16 at winning, September 2025) (source)
  • NBC6 Miami — "South Florida student recognized for nonprofit Harmony Hugs" (Nov 2025) (source)
  • WSVN 7Spotlight — "Teen who founded South Florida nonprofit Harmony Hugs hits all the right notes helping kids with disabilities" (source)
  • Hola News (Spanish-language national coverage, Sept 2025) (source)
  • Youth Service America (YSA) profile (source)
  • Harmony Hugs official website (personal Gmail publicly listed in contact section) (source)
Updated April 27, 2026