CEO Corner with Dr. Celine Coggins

Announcing a New Grant to the Institute for Youth Mental Health

Dear friends and supporters of The Goodness Web,

We are excited to announce our newest grant to ensure community-based organizations across the country are equipped to offer mental health supports to young people.

The Institute for Youth Mental Health is a breakthrough partnership between The Jed Foundation (JED) and America’s Promise Alliance and brings together these two leading national organizations to advance youth mental health.

JED, an inaugural grantee of TGW, has a track record of reducing rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidality on college campuses across the country. JED works with the leaders of organizations that serve young people (e.g., colleges, K12 schools, and now after-school and summer programs) to help them identify at-risk youth, create a culture of belonging, increase help-seeking behavior, and put crisis plans in place.

 

America’s Promise Alliance is a coalition of over 150 community-based organizations focused on young people. Their members include household names such as Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Citizen Schools, and Girls Inc. The common denominator of these programs is that they are places where adult staff build deep, long-term relationships with youth. Many such programs seek to prioritize supporting youth mental health, but most staff do not have formal training in mental health, prompting the launch of the Institute.

 

TGW is excited to be an early partner in this work. So many young people, especially socioeconomically disadvantaged youth, find a second home in community-based organizations. We share the Institute’s vision that the staff and leadership running these after-school and summer programs have the tools they need to support all youth, from building skills and belonging to responding in a crisis.