Mindful Life Project (MLP) is an innovator and pioneer providing comprehensive, in-person, mindfulness-based, social emotional learning supports for young people in schools. Their work is focused in geographies and schools that have been historically marginalized or have experienced high-density trauma. Harbourton’s support for MLP through Zephyr Impact provided a multi-year, unrestricted grant to help increase capacity, grow programmatic reach across California, and prepare for the national expansion of this extraordinary program. In 2023, MLP served over 80,000 students, their educators, and their families in 25 cities across California. The work of Mindful Life Project not only ensures all people in school have opportunities to build strong mental and emotional health; it also demonstrates for all our youth-serving institutions what is possible when we prioritize the mental and emotional health for every child.

Harbourton Foundation’s partnership with the Hope Center of the Eagle River Valley supports 13 mental health clinicians who provide therapeutic support to students in 15 schools, including an expansion of services this fall for elementary students. During the first semester of the 21/22 school year, 538 students (K-12) connected with Hope Center school-based clinicians for ongoing individual or group therapy sessions. The school-based clinicians documented over 5,300 interactions that include individual therapy sessions, family and group sessions, initial assessments, crisis assessments and case management. The school team is responding to intense behavioral health issues with elementary aged students who are suffering from high levels of family stress; the school team has completed suicide risk assessments for elementary aged children as young as 6 years old.

When the pandemic hit in March 2020 Mindful Life Project watched as our underserved school communities struggled to find resources to support student learning as well as the emotional and mental well being of teachers, students and families.