Teach meditation to at-risk youth around the globe

Thank you for your support of the David Lynch Foundation’s at-risk youth outreach!

“Since learning to meditate, I’m better at getting my work done in school and I’ve been doing good at home with less arguing with my family.”

                                            - Diamond X., New Horizons School Student

Since we last reported on our Global Giving site in October, the David Lynch Foundation taught Diamond and 4,615 other at-risk youth from across the country and abroad Transcendental Meditation – a cost-effective, non-religious technique for reducing stress and enhancing intelligence and creativity.

The David Lynch Foundation worked in partnership with the following schools and organizations to reach the more than 4,600 young people that learned to meditate through the support of generous individuals like you:

• Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education – serving at-risk students throughout the San Francisco Unified School District including Phillip & Sal Burton Academic High School, John O’Connell High School of Technology, Visitacion Valley Middle School and Five Keys Charter School

• Academia Semillas Del Pueblo – an Indigenous charter high school, Aspire Centennial College Preparatory Academy – one of California’s top-performing large, high-poverty schools, New Village Charter School – an all-girls public charter school, and Fredrick Douglass Middle School – all located in the Los Angeles area

• Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse– a community-based public charter school, and the College for Creative Studies located in the city of Detroit
• Brooklyn Urban Garden School (New York, NY) is a new public charter middle school with a mission to prepare students for success through a focus on environmental sustainability. Incorporating meditation practice into students’ daily classroom curriculum will foster greater emotional intelligence and cognitive development, creating a sustainable inner environment for each individual.

• New Horizons, (New Haven, CT) a transitional school for formerly incarcerated youth located in New Haven, Connecticut.  We taught the TM modality to all faculty members prior to the start of the school year, and we are currently in the midst of school-wide implementation.

• Joliet Junior College and Christ our Savior Catholic School in Chicago

• Ideal Academy Public Charter School – a family-centered, community-based elementary and middle school in Washington, DC.

Additionally, your donations have also supported students atDhammajarinee Witthaya School, a Thailand School for Girls, Afesip International Project, a Cambodian all girls school, and more than 80 schools throughout Oaxacha, Mexico. 

Of the young people described above living in the U.S., approximately:

• 42% self-identify as Hispanic or Latino,

• 31% self-identify as Black or African American,

• 12% self-identify as White or Caucasian,

• 11% self-identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander,

• 3% self-identify as multi-ethnic or other,

• 1% self-identify as American Indian or Alaskan Native,

• 8% are diagnosed with a disability,

• 23% have limited English language proficiency, and

• 79% of students and their families live at or below the poverty line.

Again, THANK YOU. 

“The most important change I’ve noticed since learning to meditate is that I don’t blow up anymore – and when I do, it takes a long time instead of seconds.”

                                                   - Dianara X., New Horizons School Student

Students like Diamond, Dianara, and many others were able learn Transcendental Meditation, a proven stress-reducing modality, because of the generosity of people like you. 

Thank you for your support and interest in the David Lynch Foundation's youth outreach.

If you would like more information on these or our other programs, please feel free to contact:

 

Andrea Gorzell Hickey 

Development Manager for 

The David Lynch Foundation 

(212) 644-9880 ext. 227 or andrea@davidlynchfoundation.org