Movember is currently funding 5 Making Connections sites across the United States, and each project is improving mental wellbeing for men and boys in their own unique way.
Canton
Connecticut
Canton
Connecticut
Resilience Grows Here is a veteran-focused mental health initiative. The program engages veterans, their families, and members of the broader community in efforts to prevent suicide among veterans by reducing veterans’ isolation, destigmatizing mental illness, building resilience in boys and men, and creating safe spaces for veterans to connect with each other.
Chicago
Illinois
Chicago
Illinois
How would relationships and communities change if we replaced fear with trust? In West Chicago, the Chicago Making Connections coalition asked this question and chose safe places to play as the change lab. With a vision of men and boys of color feeling a sense of belonging, ownership, and safety in a thriving community, Chicago Making Connections has created safe environments for play, mentorship, and community action.
Honolulu
Hawaii
Honolulu
Hawaii
Kokua Kallihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services, a federally qualified health center, sees factors like self-confidence, social connection, and cultural pride as critical for achieving health and wellbeing. These factors are sorely lacking in their community, a densely populated urban area where socioeconomic inequity is rife and nearly 40% of residents are immigrants who feel dislocated from their homelands. To help Kalihi Valley’s men and boys heal and thrive, the health center and its partners incorporate the community’s rich cultural traditions into leadership training and multi-generational mentoring at a local bicycle exchange, among other activities.
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
Through Making Connections the Southern Plains Tribal Health Board staff are making suicide prevention among American Indian youth a priority. The project empowers students in Anadarko and the Oklahoma City area to address and prevent suicide among their peers. It trains young people in three public schools to be the eyes and ears among their peers to look for warning signs of suicide and to refer any students who are displaying those signs to an advisor.
San Diego
California
San Diego
California
United Women of East Africa Support Team (UWEAST) and its partner organizations work to prevent suicide by building on the community’s natural resilience and culture of strong inter-personal connections. They have opened up a dialogue about mental health with community members; encouraged faith leaders to speak out about post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and suicide; and partnered with other local organizations to provide young men with leadership and career development training to counter structural barriers in their community.