Introducing the Village:

During the Pandemic of 2020, families around the world have experienced unprecedented change, loss and upheaval. Families and organizations are navigating significant challenges such as virtual learning, death of loved ones, job loss, financial distress, the U.S. racial crisis, and the constant worry and confusion over how best to keep our families safe from the spread of COVID-19. From my 20 years of experience as a mental health professional, it became clear to me that people are in need of support, resources, and a sense of community in order to get through this period of history.

We’ve created Project Village as an ecosystem of support to help families through this challenging time, by creating and curating support resources through the website and social media platforms. We focus on topics that the community has told us are most important for them right now: their family’s wellness and mental health, managing their children's online or hybrid schooling, working from home, and other current topics. The overarching theme has always been: “We are all in this together”, and this message has been a consistent source of hope and comfort for so many members of the community.

Project Village has grown organically from the unique convergence of my personal background, training and experience. First and foremost, I am a mom. This project is deeply personal for me, and arose from my own need for support, community and connection in the face of overwhelmingly stressful circumstances. Secondly, I am a school social worker with over 20 years of experience. I'm passionate about working with families and schools to help us all grow and thrive through challenging times. Lastly, I am a Certified Dare to Lead^TM Facilitator, trained by Brene Brown in 2019. With this experience, I have skills and tools to help families and organizations face vulnerability and uncertainty with courageous leadership skills.

The Project Village Website

The Origin Story:

Project Village arose from a Facebook group called Project Quarantine 2020, launched on March 13th, that created a place of support and connection. The group provided a safe haven of resource-sharing and positivity, and resonated tremendously with people all over the world. It quickly went viral and became an immense, global community of 42,000 members. Since its inception, the group has shared free resources, such as expert interviews and blog articles (on topics such as mental health, wellness, at-home learning, etc.) with the goal of supporting families to thrive through this stressful time. While helping many parents survive the onset of the pandemic and quarantine, facilitating the Facebook group has also provided me a broad window into people's needs. And while family struggles have been amplified due to COVID-19, the discussions in the group illuminated that these are also general family struggles that will continue to exist after the pandemic ends.

The name Project Village came about because the group truly has felt like a community that arose from crisis and has become a "village" of support that will live on through the pandemic and beyond.

The target audience for Project Village is families as well as community members who support families. Topics in the group have been relevant for parents, caregivers, educators, and other service providers who work with children and teens (such as mental health providers, medical personnel, and special educators). This is a woman-owned business supporting other women-owned businesses, by sharing expertise and informing the community of supportive products and services. 

The Vision: Where we're heading and how you can help:

We have big plans for Project Village to continue to build supportive resources for the community. We are raising money on I Fund Women in order to help Project Village grow its service offerings and expand its reach. Our fundraising goal is $30,000. 

We want to continue:

• Facilitating supportive spaces on social media platforms to provide resources, information, hope, humor, and joy for members around the world;
• Writing, commissioning and curating expert blog posts on topics of interest to the community;
• Sending out a weekly newsletter to keep members of the community informed about resources offered on the website.

We want to create:

• A podcast series focused on courageous leadership for families and educators, based on the Dare to Lead^TM model. This model is grounded in navigating uncertainty and vulnerability: now more than ever we need courageous leadership skills to meet these challenges head-on;
• Training opportunities in the Dare to Lead^TM model for leaders in public education;
• A digital marketing strategy in order to expand our reach, so that any family that needs the support can find the resources they need through Project Village.

Finally - as the founder of Project Village - I have been incredibly humbled to bear witness to the outpouring of love, compassion and support for one another. I have said time and time again: "WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER", and this will continue to be true as we navigate these challenging times.

I am so thankful for your interest and support as we take Project Village to the next level!

With gratitude,

Lauren

Project Village in the News!

Cherry Creek School District news story

CW33 Dallas/Ft. Worth news story about Project Village: