The Yellow Tulip Project

Our message of hope, community, and stigma reduction continued to resonate to more and more young people and adult allies, as seen by the steady increase of youth ambassadors and new communities joining our youth-led momentum in 2023. We are well aware of the staggering numbers of youth suicides and the surging youth mental health crisis in our country, and continue to be fiercely committed to making a difference in this important space. We now have 620+ youth ambassadors actively bringing YTP's programming and Hope Gardens to their schools, with new ambassadors joining in 2023.(Continued on Schedule O)In addition, hope gardeners planted bulbs in 2023 in new Hope Gardens. We know that talking about and addressing mental health at earlier ages is so important, and in 2023 we received funding to expand our Creative Daily Practice and Art Based Nature Programming to new elementary and middle schools across the United States. We also received funds to pilot a new arts program for BIPOC youth called EXPRESS, as well as funds to produce 'Young Men Moving Mountains', an exhibit geared towards smashing the particular mental health stigma that young men face.In 2022 we went through a rigorous interview process to identify youth leaders to sit on our first Youth Leadership Board (YLB). In 2023, we revised the model to pay 7 young people at a professional level to engage on Our Team. Each YLB leader directs a committee and they work together to plan events and programs. We know that we are continuing to make a difference in schools and communities based on the results of our 2023 post-event surveys. For example, our surveys indicated that: - 96% of individuals felt more connected to their communities after participating in an YTP event; - 88% of individuals felt YTP events helped to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness; and - 88% of individuals felt more hopeful after participating in a YTP event. Finally, in 2023, we were selected to present at national and international conferences and events including: hosting the roundtable dialogue "Smash the Stigma: Youth Voices on Mental Health in the Arctic" with the Arctic Council; Presented the Keynote speech at The GFWC Fall Conference; and presented at the Maine Youth Action Network Fall Conference and hosted the library talk series "Let's Talk About it!" at various library events nationwide.