Community Providers
From Central Ohio to a National Movement
SLEEP Friendly Cities is mobilizing communities to create healthier environments where children and families can achieve the restorative sleep they need to thrive.
Our work begins in Central Ohio, where we are bringing together families, neighborhood organizations, schools, workplaces, faith communities, healthcare providers and local leaders to address the conditions that shape sleep health. We recognize that each community has unique strengths, priorities and challenges. By working alongside community partners, we aim to build local capacity, strengthen existing resources and support solutions that reflect the needs and experiences of the people they serve.
While our efforts are rooted in Central Ohio, our vision extends nationally. We are building a growing coalition of researchers, clinical experts, community leaders and organizations committed to advancing population sleep health. Together, we are connecting scientific evidence with community experience to develop, evaluate and share approaches that can inform sleep health initiatives in communities across the country.
We believe that lasting improvements in sleep health require more than individual behavior change. They require strong partnerships, supportive environments, accessible resources and sustained investment in the places where children and families live, learn, work and grow.
As our partnerships expand, our mission remains the same: to help every child and family live in a community where healthy sleep is possible and everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
Our Approach: Building SLEEP Friendly Communities
Our approach brings together community knowledge, interdisciplinary research, and multisector collaboration to turn shared priorities into meaningful action.
- Mobilizing Local Partnerships: Bringing families, community organizations, institutions and local leaders together around shared sleep health priorities.
- Building on Community Strengths: Recognizing and investing in the relationships, knowledge, resources and assets that already exist within communities.
- Connecting Research and Practice: Using data, scientific evidence and community perspectives to identify opportunities for prevention and sustainable change.
- Strengthening Supportive Environments: Working across homes, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods and healthcare settings to improve the conditions that make healthy sleep possible.
- Growing a National Learning Network: Connecting researchers and community leaders to exchange knowledge, evaluate promising strategies and support the development of SLEEP Friendly Cities beyond Central Ohio.
A SLEEP Friendly School goes beyond teaching healthy sleep habits in the classroom. It is a learning environment intentionally built to expand sleep opportunity, eliminate sleep-related barriers to learning, and support student wellbeing. By building supportive sleep environments in schools, we help boost academic success, mental health, and physical well-being across generations.
A SLEEP Friendly Workplaces goes beyond standard HR training or passive wellness webinars. It creates engaging, interactive, and restful experiences right where people work—helping teams decompress, address sleep-related concerns, and build a culture that values rest. By bringing hands-on activations directly to staff, we make workplace sleep health practical, social, and genuinely refreshing.
A SLEEP Friendly Congregation knows that rest isn't just a luxury—it's a sacred daily practice. Beyond quiet reflection, it’s a vibrant faith community where members recharge together, honor boundaries, and uplift tired families and leaders. By bringing joy, fellowship, and real support into the mix, we turn rest into a celebrated part of everyday community life.
A SLEEP Friendly Provider redefines sleep as a core driver of health equity. Moving beyond simple "hours per night" check-ins, these forward-thinking clinical teams look upstream—linking clinical care to real-world living conditions, environmental sleep drivers, and community-level rest assets. By embedding sleep health directly into routine workflows, screening, and digital tools, providers catch sleep disparities early and turn restorative rest into an accessible prescription for every family.
Families aren’t just sitting in the audience—they are the heart of the movement. SLEEP Friendly Families brings parents, kids, teens, and caregivers together for interactive, fun, and restorative experiences out in the neighborhood. From hands-on pop-ups to family jam sessions, we create joyful spaces where families can relax, connect, share lived experiences, and co-design tools that make daily rest achievable for every home.
A SLEEP Friendly Creative Partner uses art, music, design, and storytelling to transform how communities experience rest. Artists, cultural groups, museums, and storytellers bring research to life—challenging hustle-culture narratives, centering diverse cultural rest traditions, and making sleep health tangible, inclusive, and deeply inspiring.
What Partnership Can Look Like
Partnership is not one-size-fits-all. Every organization brings distinct strengths, perspectives, and community relationships to the table.Whether your group starts with a single casual conversation or leads a multiyear project, partnership with SLEEP Friendly Cities is designed to be flexible, reciprocal, and grounded in your local priorities.
Partner With SLEEP Friendly Cities
Join a growing movement to make healthy sleep possible for every child, every family, and every community.
SLEEP Friendly Cities welcomes community organizations, researchers, healthcare institutions, schools, workplaces, funders, and leaders who share our commitment to improving sleep health and creating healthier environments for children and families.
Our initiative is mobilizing partners across Central Ohio while building a national coalition of researchers, institutions, and community leaders dedicated to advancing population sleep health.
We recognize that every organization brings unique strengths, perspectives, relationships, and expertise. Whether you work directly with families, conduct research, provide specialized services, or
support community investments, there are opportunities to contribute to our shared mission.
Explore Partnership Opportunities
Community and Implementation Partners
Help create healthier sleep environments in your community.
We welcome neighborhood organizations, schools, workplaces, faith communities, healthcare providers, and local institutions interested in working alongside families to improve sleep health.
Community partners can help identify local priorities, engage residents, host community conversations, develop educational activities, connect families with resources, and implement initiatives that address barriers to healthy sleep.
Together, we can build on existing community strengths and create meaningful, sustainable change.
Research and Evaluation Partners
Help advance the science of community and population sleep health.
We invite researchers, academic institutions, and interdisciplinary teams to collaborate on studies that examine the conditions shaping sleep health and evaluate community-driven approaches to improving outcomes.
Opportunities include collaborative research, measurement development, community-engaged studies, systems science, implementation research, program evaluation, and scientific dissemination.
Our goal is to connect rigorous research with real-world community priorities and generate evidence that can inform action locally and nationally.
Technical Assistance and Innovation Partners
Bring your expertise to help communities turn ideas into action.
We seek collaborators with specialized knowledge and implementation expertise in areas such as housing, environmental health, education, workforce development, healthcare delivery, community engagement, technology, and data science.
Technical assistance partners can contribute tools, training, strategic guidance, and innovative approaches that help communities understand local challenges, mobilize resources, and implement sleep-supportive solutions.
Funding and Philanthropic Partners
Invest in the conditions that make healthy sleep possible.
We welcome foundations, businesses, philanthropic organizations, and individual donors interested in supporting community-led efforts to improve sleep health.
Funding partnerships can help expand community engagement, support families' access to essential sleep resources, strengthen sleep-supportive environments, advance research, and sustain innovative programs.
Together, we can make meaningful investments in Sleep Capital and expand opportunities for children and families to thrive.
Strategic and National Coalition Partners
Help grow a national movement for healthier sleep.
We invite professional organizations, research networks, healthcare leaders, public health institutions, and national organizations to join our emerging coalition.
Strategic partners can contribute thought leadership, connect networks, share evidence and promising practices, support collaborative initiatives, and help identify opportunities to expand community-based sleep health efforts.
By connecting national expertise with local leadership, we can strengthen collective learning and help more communities become SLEEP Friendly Cities.
Why Partner With Us?
Partnership with SLEEP Friendly Cities offers opportunities to connect with a growing interdisciplinary network, collaborate on community priorities, contribute specialized expertise, and participate in innovative efforts to advance sleep health.
Our approach emphasizes shared learning, community leadership, evidence-informed action, and sustainable change. We work with partners to identify opportunities that align with their interests, strengths, and organizational missions.
Let's Build SLEEP Friendly Cities Together
Healthy sleep should not depend on your ZIP code.
Creating communities that support restorative sleep takes all of us. Whether you are interested in implementing a local initiative, contributing research expertise, supporting community investments, or joining our national coalition, we would welcome the opportunity to explore how we can work together.
Interested in becoming a partner?
Connect with the SLEEP Friendly Cities team to share your interests, learn about opportunities, and explore ways to collaborate.
