It's Our Money
#itsourmoney Youth led direct democracy
Name of Your Organization:
Bring Change to Mind
Overview of the Project - Please provide a brief description of the project.
The High School Program, BC2M HS, is a free, evidence-based, peer to peer club program that provides teens with a platform to promote mental health education, advocacy, career paths, and resource sharing. BC2M HS clubs encourage youth to take a proactive approach to mental health and self-care. They help to change the negative perceptions surrounding mental health by increasing education and awareness, fostering student empowerment, and building mentoring opportunities. These clubs are inspiring students and faculty alike to start hallway conversations that produce change and transform campuses into places where students feel supported instead of ignored.
Which of the following issues does your project address?
- Issue 1 - Addressing Mental Health
- Issue 2 - Preparation for College and/or Career
- Issue 3 - Youth Advocacy Promotion
Issue 1 - Addressing Mental Health
Youth Engagement - Please explain how you will engage youth in the planning and implementation of the project.
BC2M’s high touch model, with a dedicated Regional Manager, Dior Vargas, meets with each club in-person (virtual due to COVID-19) at least twice a year and regionally tailored mental health materials, offers students the most engaging, peer-to-peer advocacy platform currently available. Using the variety of resources provided by BC2M, including: an annual $500 club grant; access to BC2M’s exclusive online member portal; free annual subscriptions to the Headspace meditation app for all youth members and faculty advisors; an annual Student Summit in each regional area; and unique leadership opportunities; youth members are provided all the necessary tools to host, at minimum, four all-school mental health awareness events on their campus. These all -school events are purposefully designed to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness among students and increase peer knowledge of these topics.
BC2M is constantly evaluating its Program and works closely with its members to identify why students join its movement. Over the past six years, through club surveys and focus groups with each of the 320 clubs enrolled in the Initiative, it has become clear that teen members belong to one of three categories: 1) they have a personal diagnosis or experience with mental illness, 2) they have a friend or family member that has a mental health condition, or 3) they are passionate about the cause and want to join an initiative that is both fun and rewarding. As a result of this ongoing, collaborative analysis and reflection, BC2M is able to fine-tune its presentations, activity ideas and regional events to simultaneously meet the needs and interests of each member category while continuing to create larger institutional change on campus.
BC2M has five Teen Advisory Boards (TABs). These are made up of students from varying regions across the US; California, Arizona, Indiana, New York and on on our Interstate Board, to offer perspective and insight into the local and regional challenges faced by teens from across different parts of the country. BC2M harnesses these teen voices and ideas to influence all of its programmatic, event and partnership decisions. These regional TABs meet every two weeks and work closely with HS staff to give direction as to how the program should evolve, what collaborators would be brought to the table and to offer insight into the challenges faced by their generation.
Furthermore, by offering coveted, unique leadership opportunities to youth members, this mental health club program has become viewed as something highly appealing to belong to, not something teens are ashamed of. From participating in national PSAs, speaking and meeting celebrity guests at BC2M events, sharing their story on BC2M’s youth blog or being able to join a 100-person Zoom call with Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Player, Kevin Love (during quarantine!) to talk and ask questions about self-care, it’s special, and that’s why BC2M HS has become so highly sought after, with a waitlist of 180 schools from across the country.
Budget - Your total project budget must equal $20,000 to be placed on the ballot for a youth vote. Please provide a brief description of what the funds would be used for to successfully implement your project. You will also need to download, fill in, and attach a full budget using this template.
$20,000 would support the onboarding and complete implementation of six clubs in the NYC region including: August Martin High School: Jamaica, Math, Engineering and Science Academy (MESA) Charter High School: Bushwick, East Brooklyn Community High School: Brownsville, Curtis High School: St. George, Park East High School: East Harlem, and VOYAGES South Preparatory High School: Jamaica.We have received increased interest in our program since the impacts and longevity of COVID-19 are more realized.
BC2M has been working with the New York City Department of Education and ThriveNYC since 2019 to provide local youth with multiple layers of mental health support. In November 2020, when BC2M reached phase two of it's school onboarding plan, the NYC DoE shared with local administrators the opportunity to join the BC2M High school initiative. The demand from this announcement was overwhelming and BC2M has since had to create a waitlist to accommodate the level of interest. This is another reminder of the need for mental health resources and a structured, proven model to support teens.
Timeline- Please describe the timeline for the implementation and completion of the project. All work for this project must be completed by June 30, 2021, which is the end of the city’s fiscal year and the deadline for the funds to be spent.
We are currently onboarding the aforementioned six clubs. Our clubs follow the school year calendar therefore our project will end by June 30th, 2021.
Project Activity Alignment - How does your project align with at least one of the following topics:
- Leadership skills development: organizing & advocacy trainings
- Stewardship of public spaces: public parks, transportation, etc.
- Youth and student engagement
- Civic education and advocacy
- Community outreach involving residents that have been historically underrepresented in or underserved by city government and its processes
New York ranks 14th in Mental Health America’s (MHA) overall rankings of the state of youth mental health in 2020. Additionally, the student to counselor ratio in New York is 635:1; the recommended ratio is 250:1. Youth are also experiencing pervasive, consistent societal unrest due to the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the current human rights movements and underlying threat to democracy. This has created a mental health crisis among youth due to extended social isolation, bereavement, financial hardships within familial units, and a lost sense of normalcy. Mental health disparities will continue to grow without proper resources for students; BC2M HS clubs bridge that gap.
BC2M empowers students to advocate for mental health services, additional mental health resources, and promote a more culturally competent school environment. In hearing from our youth and the stressors that come along with being at the physical epicenter of the pandemic, we knew it was imperative that we transition our program to be accessible for virtual, hybrid, and in-person models. We have committed our program to be a pillar of stability and a warehouse of resources for our students.
We dedicate the summer months to reconfiguring our club portal to align with the priorities of youth. In listening to our students, we updated our club portal to contain resources, educational materials, meeting activities, all school activation ideas, and other relevant material to promote student engagement during COVID-19 and the human rights movement our youth are living through and a part of.
Each year, BC2M holds our annual student summit to come together and discuss all things mental health. Our Student Summit is known among the BC2M community to be a space where students can connect, feel safe, and explore themes of mental health with their peers. Along with the rest of the world, this year we hosted our student summit virtually which gave us the unique opportunity to have over 400 students across the country come together to dive into our theme of intersectionality within mental health. Students were able to choose from four different tracks: LGBTQIA+ & Mental Health, BIPOC & Mental Health, COVID-19 & Mental Health, and Slaying Negative Self-talk & Imposter Syndrome. As our country goes through this period of reckoning, we feel it is more important now than ever to meet students where they’re at. We surveyed our Teen Advisory Board on topics and themes they would like to explore, and we listened!
The importance of these intersections will also be highlighted during our third “BC2M Week”, where we will once again invite all of our clubs, nationwide, to join us for a unified demonstration of our student-led work. Starting February 22nd, 2021, BC2M is dedicating this five-day campaign to highlighting some of the most profound intersections of mental health for youth; BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, COVID, and Impostor Syndrome, and Negative Self-Talk. We will encourage our entire BC2M community to join us in sharing this inspirational week with their family, friends, and social networks.
Building on the momentum of their high school club experience, BC2M Mentors are students who want to continue to be a part of the program in a meaningful and impactful way as mentors to current or onboarding clubs. They will continue to be part of our BC2M community in a “high-touch” capacity by taking part in our BC2M Mentor Pilot Program. In a 2019 exit survey of our graduating seniors, 61.5% answered that they were ‘very likely/likely’ interested in pursuing a profession that related to mental health. This Mentor program will allow them to take the first steps on that trajectory. By applying and being selected as a “BC2M Mentor”, they will help support BC2M HS efforts by taking on roles to support clubs and club-specific programs.
What is your organization's area of focus?
- Children and youth related
- Advocacy and organizing
- Arts and culture
- Civic engagement
- Education and literacy
- Emergency management and disaster response
- Employment and workforce development
- Environment and sustainability
- Faith-based
- Food access
- Health and medicine
- Homelessness and/or affordable housing
- Human rights
- Human services
- Immigrants and/or refugees
- Justice related
- Legal services
- People with disabilities
- Senior services
- Women's issues
Children and youth related
The prevalence of mental illness is greatest among youth aged 16 to 24 years compared to any other stage of the lifespan, and this susceptibly is coupled with a strong reluctance to seek professional help. In fact, the average delay between the onset of symptoms and intervention is 8 to 10 years. This means that a significant portion of teens struggling with a mental illness in our high schools right now are doing so in silence and without the help that they need.
Although many adolescents are reluctant to seek professional help for a variety of reasons, most notably because of the stigma surrounding their illness, research shows that they do seek support from their friends and peers. High school students have inadvertently become the front-line of defense in the war against mental illness, and BC2M believes that it is our duty as parents, educators, and community workers to ensure that these young adults are equipped with the vocabulary, knowledge, and empathy to end the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Affirmations - Type "YES" below each statement to affirm that you are eligible to appear on the ballot for this process.
I confirm that my organization will be registered in the NYC Payee Information Portal and in PassPort, NYC’s online procurement system, in order to receive funding from the City of New York.
YES
I confirm that my organization is able to front the costs of implementing this project. Organizations will be paid based on deliverables.
YES
Completion of Deliverables: I understand all deliverables must be completed by June 30th, 2021.
YES
I understand a condition of funding includes submission of a final report upon project completion, and participating in a debrief session with the CEC.
YES
This idea proceeds to voting because:
Thank you for your proposal submission! Based on our review, your proposal is eligible according to the project guidelines and will be placed on the ballot for the youth vote to take place in February. We may reach out if we need further information to prepare the ballot.
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Great initiative with the BC2M HS program! It's essential to promote mental health awareness among teens. Resources like https://wasabill.pk/ can also help ease the financial burden of utilities, allowing students to focus more on their well-being and education.
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