Local Community Organization Overcoming the Loneliness Epidemic

Social support networks

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

HÜMNKIND’s mission is to overcome the loneliness epidemic and mental health crisis in Los Angeles. Chronic loneliness has escalated with influences of social media, work-from-home, cost of living, and post-pandemic isolation.
Research shows that loneliness has a critically harmful impact on mental and physical health. It increases our risk for anxiety, depression, suicide, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, shortened lifespan, and more.
Additionally, there is a significant gap between those struggling with mental health and what available professional services can provide. Mental healthcare in the United States would have to expand 65% just to meet current needs.
Moreso, 45-65% of people experiencing mental health problems do not seek professional care. People often choose informal support from family and friends, self-help books, or online forums to address their needs. When someone does reach out to counseling services, long wait lists are frequently listed as an obstacle to receiving help.

HÜMNKIND creates spaces for community connection and support through free meetups based in authenticity and vulnerability.
Each meetup includes an active solution to overcome loneliness through our breakout small group sharing circles. In our sharing circles, members receive a prompt, share their honest life experiences, are heard and attended to by each other, and get met with reciprocal vulnerability outside of the screen—unconditional of any costly membership, belief system, bureaucracy, or the like.
With the support of this grant, we seek to expand our meetups reach, as well as extend the impact we’ve seeded in these spaces with a brand new Mental Health Department: specifically, establishing peer support groups and a network of sliding-scale therapists.
Peer support groups provide a cost-effective solution for consistent emotional support that bridges the gap between friendship and clinical care. Weekly groups will be facilitated by certified Peer Support Specialists, whom we will recruit and train to empower community members with co-resourcing skills and pathways to leadership. With this grant, we can offer weekly support groups for men's, women's, BIPOC, LGBTQ and neurodivergent residents.
For cases when a licensed counselor or clinician is required, our new HÜMNKIND therapy network will provide subsidized sliding-scale group and individual therapy.
With the support of this grant we could train, invest in organizational staffing, and space rental for in-person groups.

HÜMNKIND will help overcome the loneliness epidemic and mental health crisis in Los Angeles by creating accessible and deep-rooted social support systems.
Our proposed program will empower our members with safe and supportive third spaces, as well as the skill-building and training necessary to heal ourselves and each other through a widespread local network of social clubs, peer-support groups, and mental health care.
HÜMNKIND Will Provide a 3-Part Solution for Integral Community Wellbeing:
1) Accessible Community Social Clubs for Supportive Social Connection
2) Co-Resourcing Skill-Building Through Peer Support Groups
3) Accessible Group & Individual Mental Healthcare
All 3 components: supportive community, personal relationships, and intensive individual care are necessary for sustainable mental wellbeing. HÜMNKIND members will receive a comprehensive support system that meets them with the level of care they need, when they need it.

As an early-stage project, aligned with our mission of overcoming the citywide loneliness epidemic and mental health crises, we will collect the following metrics: 1) Reach: Attract a wide range of LA residents who discover our organization and attend our programs
KPIs: Subscriber Count, Attendance Count, Participant Zip Codes 2) Retention: Participants consistently return for multiple events, become a regular presence in the community and receive cumulative benefit of social connection over time.
KPIs: Returning Participant Count, Average Attendance Per Member 3) Diversity: We are resourcing a diverse community, including marginalized identities like BIPOC, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, multi-generations, and more
KPIs: Diversity metrics: including age, race, ethnicity, gender/sexual orientation, and ability 4) Social Impact: Improve the lives of community members, including deeper feelings of connection, support, ability to be oneself, and improved mental health.
KPIs: Testimonials