Creating pathways that improve the mental health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations since 1999.

The Here’s 2 Life Foundation was formed in 1999 and was later designated a federally qualified 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to reduce digital, health, economic, and educational disparities. This mission is achieved by providing educational services, training, and technical assistance to institutions and organizations. Over the past two decades we have partnered with community and faith-based organizations, government agencies and municipalities, schools, school districts, and institutions that serve or support youth, ages 13-25. 

Our mission

• To measurably improve outcomes linked to health, education, behavior and lifestyle using music and media as content and context for teaching, learning, enrichment, and therapy;

• To measurably improve the health and financial wellbeing of vulnerable populations, including marginalized youth, young adults, and their families;

• To provide training and technical assistance that improves health outcomes through increased literacy and behavioral change; and

• To provide pathways to wealth and wellness through events, programs, and services that highlight links between attitudes, beliefs, choices (ABCs) and behavior, culture, and lifestyle (BCL) using music, media, science, and technology.

The First Ten Years

• Our first ten years were focused on addressing the digital divide and improving access to accurate, credible, health information. We provided technical assistance and desiged training courses for government agencies promoting access to accurate, credible, reliable health information and access to federal resources.

• During this time, we worked closely with LIFE 20/20 and assisted in creating relationships with universities, community and faith based organizations, government, and non-governmental organizations. Specifically, we helped design and implement health information programs that promoted access to the resources of the National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health [OMH]. We created training courses for clinicians and lay persons promoting: AidsInfo®, MedlinePlus®, PubMed®, ClinicalTrials.gov®, as well as, assisting stakeholders in accessing funding opportunities and other resources of OMH, and NLM.

The Last Ten Years

• Prevention and early intervention are two examples of good public health strategies to avoid and minimize dis-ease. We have focused the last ten years on adolescence by working with youth, ages 13-22.

• Additionally, we have continued to train clinicians, practitioners, and educators who support young people, whether in formal and informal learning settings.

• Music and media contain content and context for young people and their families to participate in culturally relevant, fun and engaging experiences that improve digital literacy.

• We rely on data, best practices, and our collective experiences to assist our partners in mitigating adverse childhood experiences, and promoting positive childhood experiences, with emphasis on education and adopting healthy behaviors.

The Present

• Positive Childhood Experiences [PCE] that promote competence and fosters resilience, especially when introduced early, reduce the impact of adverse childhood experiences.

• Our programs provide opportunities to build real skills including critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making, communication skills and multiple literacies required to thrive in times like these.

• After 20+ years, we are expanding by building alliances, coalitions, and partnerships nationally and globally toward the goal of improving access to culturally competent care, outcomes, digital and other literacies, and health experiences.

• There’s never been another time in modern history where personal choices and freedoms can have such a profound impact on the public’s health.

• Our initiatives, platforms, products, programs, and partnerships reflect our unwavering commitment to promoting health, hope, and healing.

• There is an intricate relationship between health, wealth, and wellness, and we have a particular way we connect the dots.