The PA Youth Advocacy Network, a Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) program, launched the 2024 Advocacy Series on January 31. Over the following eight weeks, teens learned advocacy skills, which they applied to their final presentation...
Project & Program Updates
On March 15, 53 students from 11 area high schools came together at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to discuss issues they care about and learn about the difference their vote can make in elections from the local to the national lev...
Over 100 students from 10 counties traveled to Harrisburg on November 15 to participate in a Student Mental Health Advocacy Day at the Pennsylvania Capitol. JHF's PA Youth Advocacy Network worked with legislative champions, more than 1...
The PA Youth Advocacy Network recognized May 23rd as Teen Mental Health Awareness Day with a proclamation from Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Youth advocates also were present virtually and in person at meetings across the Commonw...
The PA Youth Advocacy Network, a program of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, launched the 2023 Teen Mental Health Advocacy Series on February 1.The second annual series aims to connect Pennsylvania high school students with advocacy s...
PA Youth Advocacy Network youth advocate Mohammad Shedeed is the Pennsylvania NAMI 2023 Youth Mental Health Leadership Award essay contest winner. Shedeed, a senior at South Fayette High School, wrote about the mental health stigma he ...
To kickstart the new year, youth advocates from the PA Youth Advocacy Network organized two virtual meetings with representatives to discuss bills they sponsored related to teen mental health. Youth advocates from across Pennsylvania m...
Brooklyn Williams, a past participant in the PA Youth Advocacy Network's Teen Mental Health Advocacy Series, took to the floor of a U.S. Senate committee to advocate for increased funding to address teens' mental health needs. Read mor...
Sarah Pesi, MSPPM, a Jewish Healthcare Foundation policy associate, was chosen to participate in the 2022-2023 Pennsylvania Education Policy Fellowship Program, a policy leadership program for education, community, and advocacy leaders...
Luna Plaza, a former youth leader of the PA Youth Advocacy Network, recently received the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh's 2022 Emerging Leader Award, recognizing a young person, age 24 or younger, whose voice and actions interrupt the status...
Five PA Youth Advocacy student leaders were accepted into the Our Future in Mind: Local Edition training program this month, including Connor Dalgaard, Alekhya Buragadda, Tyler Nolt, Mohammad Shedeed, and Brynne Sorley. In the program,...
On Oct. 7, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published the op-ed "Violence traumatizes teens. Here's one answer" by Colleen O. Fedor of The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The piece focused on the importance of mentoring ...
Alekhya Buragadda, a youth advocate with the Jewish Healthcare Foundations' PA Youth Advocacy Network, participated in "Supporting Schools in our Communities: A Critical Foundation to Child and Youth Mental Health," a moderated convers...
The PA Youth Advocacy Network's efforts to increase awareness of teen mental health issues and inspire young people across Pennsylvania to action were highlighted at two national conferences this month. The National Alliance on Mental ...
The PA Youth Advocacy Network recognized the month of May as Mental Health Awareness Month with several youth-centered events. Since 2018, the Network, a program of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, has activated youth and adults acros...
In February, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) and the PA Youth Advocacy Network began the inaugural 2022 Teen Mental Health Advocacy Series. The series aims to connect Pennsylvania high school students with advocacy opportunities...
The Jewish Healthcare Foundation's (JHF's) work to promote teen mental health was featured in a Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle article on November 15. Since 2018, JHF has managed the PA Youth Advocacy Network to raise youth voice on this ...
The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) on August 30 approved new grants to develop an artificial intelligence solution that provides a new approach to research, clinical decision making, and a personalized, safer model of medical exper...
The Pittsburgh City Council and Governor Tom Wolf officially declared May 23, 2021 as Teen Mental Health Awareness Day in the City of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, via a proclamation written by a team of high school students from the PA...
On April 12, the PA Youth Advocacy Network presented a youth voice panel as part of the 2021 Representative Dan Miller Disability and Mental Health Summit. The panel featured Abby Rickin-Marks (senior, Fox Chapel High School), Connor D...