School's Out For Summer

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That sound? For the Humanity Project, it's the ring of the school bells after completing our student programs for the 2025-26 academic year. Now it’s time for a quick breather as we continue to work on our many other efforts — and prepare for the 2026-27 school year.

There was much to smile about over the past several months in schools. We reached several thousand students in several schools locally, instilling a deeper and stronger sense of self-worth along with a better understanding of equality and respect for every individual. School counselors, teachers and administrators all offered strong praise for our Humanity Club and Antibullying Through The Arts programs in their schools. One school director noted the “improved overall mood and sense of community in our school.” A counselor said our program fostered “a calm, comfortable and peaceful environment for students, teachers and staff alike.”

Students were just as enthusiastic. “The Humanity Project helped me remember that I am somebody!” wrote one young girl. Another student said in our post-program survey: “The Humanity Club program helped me believe in myself.” Yet another girl wrote: “It helped me know what are the meanings of respect and kindness.”

A big thank you to the schools, counselors and teachers that helped us deliver these programs to their students. Especially teacher (and Humanity Project board director) Piper Spencer. We also offer our sincere gratitude to The Our Fund Foundation, Community Foundation of Broward and FLoatarama for their essential funding in support of this work.

We look forward to the next school year. If you’d like to bring our free programs to your school, please get in touch with the Humanity Project. We wish all our kids, and all kids everywhere, a safe and happy and healthy summer of 2026.

Foundational Strength

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The Humanity Project® is deeply grateful to the Our Fund Foundation and the Community Foundation of Broward for their continued belief in our work  -- and for their generous joint support for the coming school year.

Year after year, these two organizations have demonstrated a meaningful commitment to strengthening communities across South Florida. Their investment in initiatives that build self-worth, promote equality and foster respect aligns closely with the core mission of the Humanity Project. With their support, we are able to expand our Humanity Club programs in schools, reaching young people at a critical stage in their development—before patterns of self-doubt and conflict become more deeply rooted. This work is aimed especially at improving life for LGBTQ students, who are disproportionately bullied and harassed. Humanity Club allows the LGBTQ student population to feel seen, heard and appreciated.

At its heart, our work addresses a simple but profound challenge: many young people struggle to feel good about themselves. That struggle often lies beneath the surface of bullying, exclusion and internal conflict. By helping students build a sense of genuine self-worth, we aim to change that dynamic from the inside out. The partnership with Our Fund and the Community Foundation of Broward makes this effort not only possible but sustainable.

We extend our sincere thanks to David Jobin, President and CEO of the Our Fund Foundation, for his leadership and dedication to advancing equity and opportunity throughout the region. We are equally grateful to Jennifer O'Flannery Anderson, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Broward, whose longstanding commitment to strengthening Broward County continues to have a lasting impact on countless lives.

Their shared vision reflects something essential: that lasting change begins with how individuals see themselves and one another. Through this collaboration, we are able to bring that vision directly into classrooms and communities, helping students recognize their own value and, in turn, respect the value of others.

We are honored by this partnership and energized for the year ahead. Together, we continue the work of helping young people—and the communities around them—grow stronger, more connected and more fully human.

A Better Beginning

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The Humanity Project is expanding our acclaimed programs — again. This time we’re finding a new way to bring key portions of our Humanity Club and Antibullying Through The Arts programs to entire schools… for a full academic year. It’s simple, but effective. And the schools using our new approach are loving it so far, as are their kids. (Contact us if you’d like to bring this to your school, at no cost.)

We have created a brief routine for schoolwide morning announcements. A counselor or administrator or teacher takes the microphone and asks the children in each classroom to follow along: First a series of self-worth exercises in the form of repetitions using the words, “I am somebody.” This phrase was written as part of a poem in the early 1940s by Rev. William Holmes Borders, who used it to promote civil rights in Atlanta. It was later taken up by broader elements of the civil rights movement, famously by Jesse Jackson. Those three important words have been part of the opening moments of every Humanity Club meeting for many years now. Our Antibullying Through The Arts program incorporates them as well.

A portion of our Humanity Project morning announcements

Next the school’s morning announcer takes the students through a short deep breathing exercise, to help them focus and relax and prepare for the day ahead. This deep breathing also is borrowed from our Humanity Club and Antibullying Through The Arts sessions. We’ve seen the positive effects of both the deep breathing and the affirmations when done repeatedly over time. We are sure they will improve feelings of well-being and self-worth for many of the students who are introduced to these exercises in this 2025-26 school year… and so reduce bullying by encouraging kids to relax and feel good about themselves in school.

We’re grateful to the schools and educators helping us deliver these valuable lessons to our kids. We also must thank the Our Fund Foundation and the Community Foundation of Broward, whose funding has made it possible for us to implement this program expansion. Together, we form an effective team working to make a difference in the lives of as many kids as possible.

Great Foundations

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Every nonprofit needs a solid foundation — a strong base of support in the form of a focused mission and vision as well as high quality effective programs, an engaged board and sufficient funding. Fortunately, the 20-year-old Humanity Project has all those elements in place … in no small part thanks to two other foundations in our community: the Our Fund Foundation and the Community Foundation of Broward.

Today we want to express our sincere gratitude to both of them for jointly awarding a generous new grant to the Humanity Project so we can continue our work. And also expand that work to reach many more kids who need our inspiring lessons in self-worth, equality and respect-for-all. Our nationally known Humanity Club and Antibullying Through The Arts programs forge deep connections with school children, helping them to treat all their peers respectfully. They learn to prevent bullying as well as to stop bullying whenever and wherever it may happen. Our programs place special emphasis on supporting the LGBTQ community of students, which is disproportionately victimized by bullying in and out of school.

The new grant continues the Humanity Project’s longtime partnership with the Our Fund Foundation, an LGBTQ community foundation, and its amazing CEO, David Jobin. We’re deeply pleased to begin an important new partnership with the Community Foundation of Broward, which is led by its own impressive CEO, Jennifer O’Flannery Anderson. Together, these two organizations have enabled our local South Florida community to become both more dynamic and more livable — funding new solutions, building new pathways forward during these challenging times.

We are proud and honored to be associated with the Our Fund Foundation and the Community Foundation of Broward. And we pledge that the Humanity Project will do our very best to make sure they both are proud to be associated with our efforts. “Equality for each, respect for all,” that’s the Humanity Project. Those values along with self-worth are at the core of everything we do. We believe they are needed now more than ever.