We have a big — and I mean, BIG — announcement to share with you all….

My Good Brain is the recipient of a $5000 Starbucks’ Neighborhood Grant!

This grant is especially meaningful as it was awarded to us during our May Mental Health Awareness Month fundraiser! We’re incredibly proud to share that we have also successfully exceeded (more than doubled, actually 🤯) our fundraiser goal of $2000. 

We sincerely thank the Starbucks Disability Advocacy Network for this recognition and for advocating our mission of using art-based interventions as a coping mechanism and awareness vehicle for youth mental health. 

This grant will significantly impact My Good Brain in the coming year by helping us attend more in-person events in the San Francisco Bay Area and deliver more art therapy Tool Kits for our upcoming Fall 2024/Spring 2025 school year. Keep reading as we dive more into our impact and how we’ll use this grant for future activities!

What is the Starbucks Neighborhood Grant? 

The Starbucks Neighborhood Grants program invites Starbucks employees and alumni to nominate local non-profits and organizations to be awarded. We’re grateful to our friends at the Starbucks NorCal Disability Advocacy Network for the honor of receiving this generous contribution! 

We’ve been fortunate to partner with Starbucks multiple times during the 2023-2024 school year! We assembled our last few tool kits at Starbucks locations in the East Bay, allowing us to work more efficiently in a bigger space and with more hands on deck (which makes packing each tool kit by hand a whole lot faster!).

We also had the opportunity to hold an art workshop for the Starbucks NorCal Disability Advocacy Network this past April. This workshop was centered around using art as a healthy coping mechanism for caregivers to alleviate the stress and mental load on caregivers — read our event recap to learn more about this particular act activity!

How will we use this grant?

The My Good Brain tool kit is our most popular program. It encapsulates our mission into an actionable art therapy resource that children can use alongside their teachers and classmates in class. 

Each toolkit we donate to participating schools comprises a collection of art activities and supporting lessons related to a dedicated theme for that semester.  Students are also provided with the basic materials they need to work on each activity — from books to decorative items, templates, coloring supplies, and more! 

For example, our theme for Spring 2024 was ‘Community Roots,’ exploring activities to help children build fellowship and tolerance at home, school, and within their local communities. During the winter, we built our tool kit around the theme ‘Centered and Present,’ with activities emphasizing mindfulness and appreciation. 

In 2023, we donated 704 toolkits — almost doubling the number of toolkits delivered in 2022! (To learn more about what we’ve done in the past year, check out our 2023 impact report.)

This grant will allow us to continue this growth trajectory by donating more toolkits to more schools around the Bay Area. 

📣 P.S. We’re taking applications for our school donations for the Fall ‘24/Spring ‘25 academic year! Apply here. 

We also look forward to bringing My Good Brain activities to more in-person events! My Good Brain was established during the pandemic, with most of our initial programs and initiatives conducted virtually.

Since 2022, we’ve been steadily increasing our presence at in-person events, from conducting art workshops to holding art activities at community booths. 

Moving forward, this grant will help us cover the costs of art materials, travel, advertising & marketing, and other event-related costs. We’re excited to use this grant to expand our footprint beyond the communities we already reach today and share our mission with more children, families, and educators in the Bay Area and beyond. 

Thank you for helping us create more fun, safe, and healthy spaces for children 🧡

This is only the beginning for My Good Brain. We’re so grateful for the support and generosity we’ve received from the community, which have allowed us to expand our efforts and continue educating those around us about youth mental health and the significance of art and play. 

To stay up to date with all our events and programs, follow us on social media or contact us with any questions!