NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2017 – Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation and education funding nonprofit DonorsChoose.org announced today a new initiative to promote mental and emotional wellness in America’s public schools. The Mental and Emotional Wellness Challenge calls on teachers and students to create projects on DonorsChoose.org that reflect their most creative ideas for building school communities that foster emotional well being and equip students with skills and resources to support their mental health. This challenge is the first of its kind to support this category of emotional wellness projects on DonorsChoose.org.
Last year, Born This Way Foundation partnered with Benenson Strategy Group to survey young people nationwide about their mental health and wellness, and found that nearly nine in ten youth view mental health as an important priority. However, approximately half never discuss the issue with anyone in their lives. Additionally, 36% of high schoolers report that mental health topics aren’t covered in any of their curriculum.
“Mental health is universally relevant and foundationally important. Today’s young people understand that. They know that the health of their minds will affect their well being just as much as the health of their bodies. But they need access to better resources – and that can start in our classrooms,” said Cynthia Germanotta, president and co-founder of Born This Way Foundation. “Born This Way Foundation is so proud to work with DonorsChoose.org to help our public school teachers end the stigma around mental health and empower their students with the tools and skills they need to support their emotional wellbeing.”
The Mental and Emotional Wellness Challenge will provide matching donations to eligible project requests of up to $500 that foster mental and emotional wellness. Donations to teacher-created projects will be doubled by the Foundation, and donations to projects created by students in grades 7 through 12 will be tripled, while funding lasts. At the end of the campaign, the Foundation will select the five projects that best demonstrate the importance of mental health, decrease stigma around the issue, and teach students practical skills to support their mental and emotional wellness. Each winning teacher will receive a $5,000 DonorsChoose.org gift card to fund a future project.
“We’re so grateful to Lady Gaga, her mother Cynthia Germanotta, and Born This Way Foundation for helping us create a new way to support this category of projects that encourage mental and emotional health in schools,” said Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose.org. “We’ve long believed teachers know best what their students need to succeed, and that includes the creation of healthy, supportive school communities. We can’t wait to see the inspiring ideas teachers and students submit for this challenge.”
Donors can contribute to projects included in the challenge by visiting www.donorschoose.org/bornthisway, and teachers and students can learn more here about creating an eligible project.
To kick off the campaign, Cynthia Germanotta will join DonorsChoose.org founder Charles Best for a Facebook Live broadcast on Wednesday, November 8, at 3pm EST. To view the broadcast, visit facebook.com/donorschoose.