Grant Amount
$15,000
Description of Organization
This collaboration Grant between The Awareness Training Institute at The Insight Meditation Community of Washington and Minds Inc. supported the launch of an innovative new initiative to support mindfulness instruction for under-served students, teachers and parents in low-income DC area schools. The two groups are working together to create a community-driven, organic, replicable and sustainable program model that will not only benefit DC’s diverse communities, but also elevate the entire field of mindfulness in education by demonstrating and documenting new and important best practices for starting, growing, and sustaining school–based mindfulness programs.
The goals of the proposed project are to:
- Build, test, and refine a community–driven and holistic mindfulness–in–schools program model that can be replicated in schools in DC and beyond.
- Deliver high quality mindfulness programs to diverse and economically disadvantaged high school students in the DC metro area.
- Design online training modules for school teachers in concert with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield.
- Support mindful parenting through specialized trainings for DC–area parents.
- Establish mindfulness champions among students, teachers, and parents in DC schools who will continue to sustain mindfulness practice long after this project is completed.
- Evaluate and learn from the project and share results with other cities and communities.