Editing Paul Simon (section)

==Philanthropy==
Simon is an advocate of music education for children. In 1970, after recording "Bridge Over Troubled Water", he held auditions for a young songwriters' workshop at the invitation of the NYU's [[Tisch School of the Arts]].  The auditions were advertised in ''[[The Village Voice]]'', and brought hundreds of hopefuls to perform. Among the six teenage songwriters selected for tutelage were [[Melissa Manchester]], [[Tommy Mandel]] and rock/beat poet Joe Linus. [[The Roches|Maggie and Terre Roche]] (the Roche Sisters), who later sang back-up for Simon, joined the workshop in progress in an impromptu appearance.

Simon invited the six teenagers to experience the recording process at Columbia studios with engineer [[Roy Halee]]. During these sessions, [[Bob Dylan]] was downstairs recording his album ''[[Self Portrait (Bob Dylan album)|Self-Portrait]]'', which included a version of Simon's "[[The Boxer]]". Violinist [[Isaac Stern]] visited the group with a [[CBS]] film crew and spoke to the young musicians about lyrics and music.

Manchester later paid homage to Simon with her recorded song "Ode to Paul". Other musicians Simon mentored include [[Nick Laird-Clowes]], who co-founded the band [[the Dream Academy]]. Laird-Clowes credited Simon with helping to shape the band's biggest hit, "[[Life in a Northern Town]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theacf.com/dreamac/article_latimes86.html |title=at |publisher=Theacf.com |access-date=July 15, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725071606/http://theacf.com/dreamac/article_latimes86.html |archive-date=July 25, 2011}}</ref>

In 2003, Simon became a supporter of [[Little Kids Rock]], a nonprofit organization that provided free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools in the U.S. He sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member.

Simon is also a major benefactor and one of the co-founders, with [[Irwin Redlener]], of the Children's Health Project and The Children's Health Fund<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.childrenshealthfund.org/ |title=CHF – The Children's Health Fund |publisher=Childrenshealthfund.org |access-date=July 15, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/052597/mobile.htm |title=Mobile health units bring medical care to homeless |publisher=Lubbockonline.com |access-date=July 15, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320090429/http://lubbockonline.com/news/052597/mobile.htm |archive-date=March 20, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> which began by creating specially equipped buses to take medical care to children in medically under-served areas, both urban and rural. Their first bus was placed in the impoverished [[South Bronx]] of New York City, but the buses now operate in 12 states, including on the [[Gulf Coast]]. The project has expanded greatly and partners with major hospitals, local public schools and medical schools, and advocates policy for children's health and medical care.

In May 2012, Paul Simon performed at a benefit dinner for the Turkana Basin Institute in New York City, raising more than $2&nbsp;million for [[Richard Leakey]]'s research institute in Africa.<ref>{{cite web|first=Frank |last=Eltman |url=https://news.yahoo.com/scientist-evolution-debate-soon-history-155252505.html |title=Scientist: Evolution debate will soon be history|publisher=Yahoo! News |date=May 26, 2012 |access-date=June 5, 2012}}</ref> For his 2019 performance at San Francisco's [[Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival]], Simon donated his appearance fee to the [[San Francisco Parks Trust|San Francisco Parks Alliance]] and [[Friends of the Urban Forest]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/13863711/toro-y-moi-shows-oakland-love-paul-simon-dazzles-outside-lands-day-3-highlights |title=Toro y Moi Shows Oakland Love, Paul Simon Dazzles: Outside Lands Day 3 Highlights |first=Nastia |last=Voynovskaya |date=August 12, 2019 |access-date=August 12, 2019 |publisher=KQED}}</ref>