Reach 100,000 Students

Students are the heart of our mission at the PLUS ME Project. In this momentous year, we have set an ambitious goal to impact 100,000 students with the art of storytelling.

Why It Matters

The Biden-Harris administration recently declared that American youth are in crisis. Levels of depression, anxiety, and isolation have been on the rise. A 2020 UCLA study revealed that over 70% of young people felt isolated, and we know COVID-19 and social upheaval have worsened the issue. Isolation in particular results in youth feeling disengaged, apathetic, and lacking confidence to pursue their goals.

PLUS ME's story-based workshops are designed to address exactly these issues. We work with students to cultivate safe, inclusive spaces where they can connect by sharing and empathizing with each other's life experiences. We are proud that 76% of youth we serve report an increase in their self-awareness, 80% feel more confident, and 93% recommend our workshops to their peers.

How We Will Achieve It

PLUS ME reaches between 10,000 - 15,000 students annually through our guest speaker presentations and storytelling workshops.

Our team of facilitators conduct these programs live, in-person or virtually, with students during the school day or after school. Within the guest speaker presentations, relatable role models share their life stories with larger groups of students. Storytelling workshops are scheduled in classroom settings directly with educators and are tailored to support the social, emotional, academic, and career goals of their students.

We aim to reach the same number of students this year that we impacted over the past 9 years. In order to do this, we created a new program that will bring PLUS ME facilitators into classrooms through video recordings of their stories. This free digital resource will allow us to reach students across the country (learn more below).

Where We Are Today

The school year just started, but PLUS ME has been in classrooms every week supporting students. So far, we have reached over 2,500 students and look forward to increasing these numbers in the coming months!

How You Can Help

Learn more about the Story Sparks Series and share widely with educators in your life!