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Breaking The Stigma Surrounding Children’s Mental Health

December 8, 2021
Hosts: Alli Murphy
Panelists: Jeremy Ball, Marti Bledsoe Post

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 to more than 1 million teachers and classrooms across America. Just five months later, they surpassed that ambitious goal, reaching more than 1.1 million classrooms.

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.

In today’s episode, Engage for Good’s Alli Murphy is joined by Marti Bledsoe Post, Executive Director of On Our Sleeves, and Jeremy Ball, Vice President Internal Communications, Philanthropy and Events, at Big Lots to talk about the partnership and what they’ve learned along the way.

Tune into today’s episode to learn all about:

Marti’s advice for securing corporate partners in historically “taboo” cause areas
Jeremy’s advice on corporate advocacy and how to get started
What the On Our Sleeves Movement and the Million Classroom Project are
How Big Lots is involved in the partnerships
How the team refocused the One Our Sleeves mission and strategy amid the pandemic
What’s on the horizon for the partnership

Links & Notes

[On Our Sleeves Website] (https://www.onoursleeves.org/)
[Big Lots Website] (https://www.biglots.com/)
[Big Lots Community Page] (https://www.biglots.com/corporate/community)

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(00:00) – Welcome to Cause Talk Radio
(01:42) – Welcome Marti Bledsoe and Jeremy Ball
(01:53) – What is On Our Sleeves?
(02:45) – About the Big Lots Foundation
(06:04) – About the Million Classroom Project
(07:59) – Why is the partnership perfect for Big Lots?
(14:32) – Pivoting in real time
(17:55) – How does a partnership turn into an alliance?
(20:32) – Looking back
(25:11) – Advice to non-profits
(32:56) – What’s on the horizon?
(34:30) – Learn more

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Join Alli Murphy as she interviews top corporate leaders, nonprofit pros, and people who help them advance their careers and organizations. You’ll be inspired by the strategies change-makers follow to build win-win partnerships and campaigns and their actionable advice for advancing your career and developing your social impact team. Subscribe now to learn from the best and get ideas you can implement today!