Uniting To Support Youth Mental Health
Children today are shouldering immense mental health burdens. Let’s make a change together.
A 501 (C) (3) Youth Mental Health Charity
Upcoming events
- September 7th, 8AM to 1PM
Youth Mental Health Awareness Day
Our Projects
Support our initiatives
988 Club Student Support Groups
Eli’s Project presented an idea to partner with school professionals to form school support groups titled The 988 Club. The groups run by teachers, and school professionals trained in mental health first aid will help provide coping skills and necessary connections to peer and adult support. Contact us to learn more!
Send a kid to camp - scholarship
Eli’s Project general contribution
2nd annual mental health awareness lacrosse game
Okemos & East Lansing boys lacrosse teams competed in the 2nd Annual Mental Health Awareness Lacrosse Game. WILX caught up with Zach Goldstein, Eli's Project Founder.
"Goldstein said there has been a crisis around mental health for the past several years. Eli's Project hopes to change those statistics, connecting with as many families and preteens as possible."
All proceeds will support local youth mental health initiatives.
You’re Not Alone: Eli’s Project
A boy who seemed to have it all. A loving family and friends. From the outside, Eli looked like a healthy, happy boy. Inside, he struggled. That private pain led to him taking his own life.
Our Mission
Help Us Support Youth Mental Health Today
At Eli’s Project, our mission is to do everything possible to prevent suicide in children through advocacy, education, and action.
Children today are shouldering immense mental health burdens. Right now, across our community and communities like ours, extraordinary kids are in the fight of their lives.
Together, we are working toward a world where there are pathways to meaningful mental health care for all kids who need them.
We will be a catalyst for bringing child and teenage suicide into the light, so our most vulnerable children do not live in darkness.
We will be tireless advocates for filling the gaps in our medical, psychiatric, and educational expertise.
We will work to ensure that every parent, teacher, coach, and school is supported fully in supporting our kids while building solutions at the societal scale.
We will raise awareness about the fullness and complexity of a life with mental illness.
From crisis to healing, across zip codes and socioeconomic brackets, this is Eli’s project: suicide prevention that starts with all of us, because it is bigger than any one of us.
Join us.
What we do?
Eli’s project asks us to build a world where solutions and resources for this vulnerable population are integrated into the fabric of our society, rather than falling entirely on the shoulders of a handful of individuals, or even a single loving community.
Why we do it?
Even in a society that has made tremendous strides toward destigmatizing mental health care, the fact remains that our most vulnerable population still falls through the cracks: kids.
Some of these kids, like Eli, are surrounded by the fiercest of advocates. Loving families. Caring communities. Compassionate educators who go well beyond the job description. However, the heartbreaking truth is that many kids do not have these support systems. Children from populations historically least likely to have access to mental health care – including kids living in poverty, rural environments, or in the foster system – remain troublingly underserved.
Eli’s life sounds the call – to come together not just in loss, but also to shape what comes after. For kids like Eli and kids not like Eli. For kids with adults supporting them at the fiercest edges of a fight for life, and those without. For kids surrounded by compassionate, expert practitioners and those who live in areas where even primary care is elusive. For kids who fit the mold of who our schools and systems are designed to protect, and those who do not even know there is a mold.
About Eli's Project
Honoring Eli's Legacy: Supporting Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing
Eli’s Project was created after the founder lost his son, Eli, to suicide. Eli’s unique mental health struggles leading up to his suicide, propelled his father and the founding members to create a foundation that would provide relief to others suffering in similar ways.
Since its founding in July of 2022, Eli’s Project has found a unique and important presence in the local community. Our events have benefited youth and given them the opportunity to express their emotions in safe spaces. We expect a robust increase in our networks in the next 12 months.
Currently, we are working together with various agencies including collaborative fundraising with the Northern Michigan YMCA to provide camp scholarships to children who have experienced adversity. We have partnering with professional organizations to advocate for mental health resources for youth in need at a governmental level. We are also developing and implementing mental health talk groups within several local school systems.
At Eli’s Project, we understand suicide in youth is a complex and multifactorial problem. We’ve been fortunate to partner with some amazing organizations that address youth mental health. Looking to the future, we expect to continue to strengthen these partnerships and create new ones. We look forward to being a powerful resource and advocate for a population of youth that is struggling within our society.
Advocacy
Education
Action
Meaningful Mental Health
Building a better world for and with children
Discover our Store
100% of proceeds will go towards supporting youth mental health initiatives
Contribute to Eli's Project
Eli’s Project is a 501(3)(C) non-profit foundation. EIN#88-3201633
Maximum donation amounts.
Also a space for the PO Box for giving checks
Get in Touch
Lacrosse Mental Health Awareness Game
Join us in championing youth mental health through our Lacrosse game.
Your contribution makes a difference.
