Winning Home Supports Social Capital, Inc. with $15,000 Grant

First time collaboration between Winning Home and Social Capital will support emotional wellness of Woburn youth

WOBURN, Mass. (March 21, 2017) Winning Home, Inc., a private, non-profit charitable organization that provides services and support to economically, socially, physically, emotionally, or mentally handicapped or disadvantaged children and their families, today announced its support of The Woburn Youth Wellness Project, presented by Social Capital Inc. (SCI), a 501 © (3) organization whose aim is to connect citizens to strengthen communities. With this $15,000 grant, SCI, in partnership with the Woburn School System and the James L. McKeown Boys and Girls Club, will establish a program to promote emotional wellness in the Woburn adolescent community.
In 2015, SCI distributed a Youth Risk Behavioral Survey to Woburn Memorial High School students. Administrators of the survey were troubled to find one in five had been bullied. More concerning, one in five female students have considered suicide, and one in 10 girls in the 11th grade have attempted it. In an effort to address these disconcerting findings, SCI, Woburn Public Schools, and the Boys & Girls Club have partnered to address the needs identified in the survey so students may develop into healthy young adults.
The goal of The Woburn Youth Wellness Project is to provide Woburn middle schoolers with resources to help improve their overall emotional wellness. Grant funds will be used to hire professionals to integrate with, and educate, Woburn students. Teen leaders will run workshops in the middle school, and Woburn Public Schools will provide space for schoolwide assembly sessions and supervision for the monthly workshops led by these students.
“We share Winning Home’s commitment to the well-being of Woburn youth, especially those who are disadvantaged in some way,” said David Crowley, president of SCI. “With this grant, we aim to address the disturbing instances of bullying and suicide ideation, and provide adolescents with the tools needed to manage the challenges they face in today’s society.”
Program objectives begin with a school-wide assembly to 1050 middle-schoolers providing information and skills that contribute to positive and emotional health. Post-assembly, 20 Woburn High School student leaders on the SCI youth council will facilitate monthly sessions that engage 200 at-risk middle school students in discussions about mental and emotional health concerns and strategies for addressing them.
“As an organization whose mission is to protect and provide for children in our community, we were deeply disheartened to hear the cruelty of bullying has invaded our schools,” said Albert F. (Chip) Curran, Jr., treasurer of Winning Home. “The needs of the Youth Wellness project fit well with Winning Home’s mission of ‘children first’. With this grant, we wholeheartedly support Social Capital’s vision for providing emotional wellness, coping skills, and resources to combat this epidemic, and for educating our students about healthy alternatives that will benefit them long into the future.”
A follow-up survey is planned in December 2017 at the completion of the inaugural program.
For more information on the emotional wellness program, or to contact one of its administrators, please visit www.SCIWoburn.org.
About Winning Home
Winning Home’s mission is to help local children and families in need. The Winning Home property was put into trust more than 100 years ago to be used as an orphanage and for the support of needy children. Since its conversion from a landowner to a charitable trust, Winning Home has granted more than $4.0 million to area charitable organizations.
Please visit http://winninghome.org for more information.

About Social Capital, Inc.
Founded in 2002, SCI’s mission is to strengthen communities by connecting diverse individuals and organizations through civic engagement initiatives. We envision a nation where individuals are strongly connected to their neighbors and play an active role in shaping the destiny of their communities. This increase in ‘social capital’ will result in communities that are safer, healthier and more vital. For more information, please visit: http://www.socialcapitalinc.org.

MEDIA CONTACT
Jennifer Shelby for Winning Home, Inc.
Jennifer@winninghome.org.
www.winninghome.org

Note related photo:
L to R first row: Tom Martin President WH , Albert ( Chip ) Curran Jr. Treasure WH, David Crowley President SCI, Jessica Callanan Woburn High School Principal.
L to R back row: Tom Qualey Joyce Middle School Principal, Carl Nelson Kennedy Middle School Principal, Bob Maquire Director WH, Matt Crowley Assistant Superintendent of Schools.

###