One of the things we are most proud of at the ParentPreneur Foundation is that since we launched nearly a year ago, we paid for therapy for nearly fifty people. And thanks to a generous donation from Toyota, we are honoring national minority mental health month in July by paying for fifty more Black ParentPreneurs.
The history of national minority mental health month
According to Touchstone Mental Health, here's a little background about national minority mental health month:
Bebe Moore Campbell, founder of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Urban Los Angeles chapter, said in 2005, “Once my loved ones accepted [my] diagnosis, healing began for the entire family, but it took too long. It took years. Can’t we, as a nation, begin to speed up that process? We need a national campaign to destigmatize mental illness, especially one targeted toward African Americans… It’s not shameful to have a mental illness. Get treatment. Recovery is possible.”
According to NAMI, Campbell was a champion for mental health education and support among individuals of diverse communities. A leading African American author, she co-founded NAMI Urban Los Angeles and received NAMI’s 2003 Outstanding Media Award for Literature. She died in 2006. To honor her legacy, in 2008, the United States House of Representatives announced July as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.
Why it matters that we are doing this
This effort to pay for therapy for Black people is important because mental health continues to be stigmatized in the Black community and according to Columbia University, Black folks are 20% more likely to have mental health issues than white folks.
Black ParentPreneurs not only have the pressure of being a parent, but there's the acute pressure of being an entrepreneur while being a parent, then add to that being Black while doing the parenting and entrepreneur thing, and it's a level of stress most people simply can't understand. The mental health toll and anxiety are at times unbearable for Black ParentPreneuers.
We are delighted to help improve the mental health of the Black ParentPreneurs in our community with this generous donation from Toyota.
If empowering Black ParentPreneurs, so they can leave a legacy for their beautiful Black children matters to you, please make a tax-deductible donation.
Every penny counts.
If you are a Black ParentPreneur, please join our online community.
Let's go!
Abrazos (Hugs), James
CEO