FUNDING PROPOSAL

Heal One World Non-Profit

Mental Health Support RFP to the Bank of America Charitable Foundation

To Whom it may Concern,

Please find enclosed our RFP for the period January to December 2023. Heal One world seeks to obtain funding from the Bank of America (BOA) Charitable Foundation for its Mental Health Support Project to be implemented in Los Angeles, CA. Heal One World is registered as a not-for-profit organization in the state of California and commits to the mission of empowering individuals to cultivate and create their own sense of wellness and health of the spirit, mind, and body. Through the Mental Health Support program, Heal One World proposes to offer free/donation-based yoga, meditation, and Tai-Chi classes to 175 low-income individuals with mental health issues who lack the resources and insurance coverage to access specialized treatment. The total project budget is $153,000. Heal One World is requesting a total of $150,300 from the BOA Charitable Foundation towards this noble initiative.

Project Overview

The mission of the mental health support program is to help low-cost residents of Los Angeles, California, cultivate their own sense of mental wellness and health through increased access to guidance-learning self-help techniques and natural, non-invasive treatments. To realize its mission, Heal One World will offer free and donation-based classes on self-help and self-healing techniques such as yoga, tai-chi, and reiki. At the same time, the organization maintains a database of low-cost mental healthcare providers, to whom it refers cases requiring more than self-healing for specialized care. The mental health project targets low-income residents in need of preventive, non-traditional/complementary modalities to mental healthcare, but who lack access to such services due to their high cost and lack of health insurance.

Through the project, Heal One World envisions to promote mental health and well-being among vulnerable low-income households in Los Angeles, thus reducing mortalities from non-communicable diseases. This aligns with the United Nations Social Development Goal (SDG) 3 and the WHOs SDG target 3.4, which focuses on reducing by one-third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through promotion of mental health (World Health Organization, WHO, 2022). Studies have shown that mental health leads to significant social and physical problems, which ultimately affects the wellbeing of individuals across the lifespan (Tullius et al., 2022).

At the household level, poor mental health disrupts relationships with family members, leading to divorce, family breakdown, and childhood neglect (Tullius, et al., 2022). For children and adolescents, poor mental health increases the risk of poor academic outcomes as well as social and behavioral problems that increase the risk of delinquent behavior (Tullius et al., 2022). Data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicates that poor mental health is a risk factor for substance abuse, and people with mental health issues are more likely to smoke cigarettes, engage in binge drinking, and use non-prescription opioids (NSDUH, 2018). Through the Mental Health Support program, Heal One World seeks to improve the target populations mental health by increasing access to natural, non-invasive treatments and self-help techniques. The requested funds will support the project in the payment of staff salaries, purchase of materials and stationary for office use, psychiatry fees for local low-cost clinics, coverage of overhead costs such as electricity and rent, marketing, and transport costs.

Project Context

Data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) shows that 1 in every 5 US adults, and 1 in every 6 adolescents experience poor mental health every year (NAMI, 2022). In 2020, 53 million adults and 7.7 million adolescents in the US experienced some form of mental illness (NAMI, 2022). In California, where the project is based, 5.6 million people were diagnosed with a mental condition in 2020 (NAMI, 2022b). Unfortunately, the cost of treatment remains a problem for Californians with mental conditions (NAMI, 2022b). 1.6 million people among those diagnosed with mental conditions in 2020 did not receive any form of mental healthcare, with 35% identifying that they could not afford treatment (NAMI, 2022b). NAMI (2022b) points out that approximately 8 percent of Californians lack health insurance, which makes it challenging to access the needed mental healthcare. Further, over 9.4 million California residents live in communities that do not have mental health professionals, which further aggravates the lack of access to adequate mental health supports (NAMI, 2022b).

The proposed project seeks to fill this gap by increasing access to free and donation-based non-invasive treatments and self-help techniques among low-income Californians who lack financial resources and insurance coverage to obtain proper mental healthcare. In the short-term, the project will improve the mental health of the surrounding community and reduce mortalities related to mental health disorders. In the long-run, the project will address disparities in access to mental health and ensure health equity in the surrounding community and the greater state of California.

Project Description

To realize its aim, Heal One World proposes to carry out the following activities through the mental health support project to be implemented between January and December 2023:

i) Offer a variety of...…classes. The organization is grounded on the idea that the greatest tools for healing lie within an individual. Thus, the organization commits to the mission of empowering individuals to cultivate and create their own sense of wellness and health of the spirit, mind, and body.

The organization is headed by Skye Kelly, who is the executive director and a member of the board of directors. Other board members include Caitlin Thomas (Secretary), Rose Blair (Treasurer), Joe Leonard, (BoardMember), Jennifer Salem and Urania Applebaum (Board Members). The executive director is responsible for the day-to-day management of organizational affairs. He is assisted by an accountant, who oversees financial management and does the administrative duties, including preparation of reports. Other staff at the organization include five trainers and an ICT technician.

The organization was formed to help connect people in need of preventative health care, non- traditional/complementary modalities, natural non-invasive treatments, and guidance learning self-help techniques that are generally not covered by insurance. Classes are held for free or sliding scale basis that provide self-help an self-healing techniques. The organization assists and promotes clinics where low-cost treatment can be found, as well as maintain a database of providers who are interested in helping those in need and create a long-term focus of wellbeing of body, spirit and mind. Heal One World also offers people in need a forum to ask questions and state their issues to find the best provider to help them reach their goal of health.

In summary, Heal One World was formed to connect people in need of preventative health care, non- traditional/complementary modalities, natural non-invasive treatments, and guidance learning self-help techniques that are generally not covered by insurance. Towards this end, the organization proposes to implement a project labeled Mental Health Support, which will offer free and donation-based classes on yoga, tai-chi, and reiki to help individuals create their own sense of wellness and health of the spirit, mind, and body. At the same time, the project will involve a referral program, through which participants requiring more than self-healinwill obtain specialized psychiatric support from low-cost providers. Heal One World envisions that in the short-term, the project will improve the mental health of the Los Angeles community and reduce mortalities related to mental health disorders. In the long-run, the project will address disparities in access to mental health and ensure health equity in the surrounding community and the greater state of California.

We await your favourable response

Skye Kelley (Heal One World Executive Director)