Midian Leadership Project
CHARLESTON, WV
$248KTax year 2024
Grant purpose
Midian leadership project will combine research and practice in the trauma-healing power of team sport participation to address the mental and behavioral health and substance use disorder challenges of youth in low-income, multicultural communities. Midian will expand its cohort of young adult coaches employed through up2us sports americorps positions serving west side middle school and capital high school football and basketball teams and engage 150 school athletes and other community youth through trauma-informed coaching; academic mentorship; and year-round nutrition, fitness, and enrichment programming aimed at tapping into youth interests and maintaining positive mentor connections during the offseason. Additional midian team members will provide project supervision, manage outcome data collection, and oversee research and evaluation. Finally, midian will present insights and applicable strategies at relevant conferences and create training materials to share with coaches, etc.