(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – In May 2021, to mark the launch of Mental Health Awareness Month, On Our Sleeves, the national movement for children’s mental health, set an ambitious goal to provide free mental health resources for more than 1 million teachers and classrooms across America. Just five months later, On Our Sleeves is proud to announce, thanks to a tremendous groundswell of support, that they have surpassed that ambitious goal, reaching 1,020,654 classrooms. It is timely that this milestone is being reached by October 10, 2021, World Mental Health Day.
“The impact of the pandemic has been heavy, especially for our teachers, who play such a crucial role in the lives of children,” said Marti Bledsoe Post, executive director of On Our Sleeves. “Because kids don’t wear their thoughts on their sleeves, we must lead by example and have tough conversations, and we have to have them early. On Our Sleeves provides free resources, developed in partnership with the behavioral health experts at Big Lots Behavioral Health Services at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The resources are free and accessible for everyone from parents to educators and coaches to make the topic of mental health more approachable for kids in their lives.”
On Our Sleeves launched the Million Classroom Project in May, and Big Lots, a strong national sponsor and longtime partner of the movement, joined as the Million Classroom Project’s first corporate partner, setting an ambitious goal of getting On Our Sleeves materials into 150,000 schools. They accomplished this by distributing free On Our Sleeves teacher resource kits through their 1,414 store locations. Additionally, Big Lots Associates partnered with On Our Sleeves to host 11 surprise visits to Million Classroom Project Schools delivering mental health resources and a $1,000 Big Lots gift card to fund mental wellness activities for teachers and students.
“Big Lots is honored to work with On Our Sleeves and Nationwide Children’s to break stigmas and provide educators with important resources from their behavioral health experts,” said Bruce Thorn, President & Chief Executive Officer of Big Lots and Nationwide Children’s board member. “Every story we hear about how teachers have been using these materials to help their students, especially amid the most challenging of times, makes us extremely proud of the work we are doing together. We were happy to distribute these free resources through our stores across the country.”
Big Lots was joined in supporting the Million Classroom Project by other key partners from the On Our Sleeves Alliance - a collection of national agencies and corporations focused on the mental wellness of every child in America. Participating Alliance partners included JOANN, Walgreens, DSW, Kendra Scott, Justice and many more.
Additionally, Alliance Education partners like GoNoodle, American Association of Educators, Mental Health Coalition and Young Minds Inspired helped the project reach educators, and On Our Sleeves health care partners Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Dayton Children’s Hospital conducted outreach in their communities.
A final report from the Million Classroom Project will be presented today at the On Our Sleeves National Alliance Summit. More information can be accessed at OnOurSleeves.org/Million.
About On Our Sleeves
Children don't wear their thoughts on their sleeves. With 1 in 5 children living with a significant mental illness and half of all lifetime mental health issues starting by age 14, we need to give them a voice. On Our Sleeves, powered by behavioral health experts at Nationwide Children's Hospital, aims to provide every community in America with free resources necessary for breaking child mental health stigmas and educating families and advocates, because no child or family should struggle alone.
Since the inception of On Our Sleeves in 2018, more than 2 million people have interacted with our free pediatric mental health educational resources at OnOurSleeves.org and our educator curriculums have reached more than 1.1 million students across the United States. We depend on philanthropy to underwrite our mission of providing free educational resources across America and will be seeking funding partners to create a meaningful collaboration. Please contact Amanda Dove, Director of Corporate Partnerships at 1-866-317-5437 or amanda.dove@nationwidechildrens.org to learn how millions of families can learn about your brand.