About Us
Our Mission
Build the consciousness of Youth of Color and their caregivers on the recognition and importance of mental health, empower youth and their families to seek help and manage mental health and influence systems and services to receive and address the needs of Youth of Color and their families.
Our Vision
At The AAKOMA Project, we envision a world where EVERY child, teen, and young adult (inclusive of all points of diversity) feels the freedom to live unapologetically and authentically within an environment that allows them to rise and thrive.
Get a load of The AAKOMA Project’s 2022 Social Impact Report! We’ve been up to some great things in 2022, working tirelessly to support Youth and Young Adults of Color with their mental health. Here’s a peek at the highlights:
- Thoroughly researched different aspects of mental health for Youth and Young Adults of Color
- Partnered with community to raise consciousness and encourage open dialogue about mental health
- Supported culturally responsive, top-notch care to those in need, helping them overcome traditional barriers to mental health support
We’re proud of all that we’ve achieved so far and can’t wait to continue making a difference in the lives of young people in 2023 and beyond!
Full ReportThe AAKOMA Project is all about generating knowledge in COLLABORATION with the POC communities we serve. An example of this is from our study titled “Building Capacity and Reducing Barriers to the Inclusion of Underserved Black Youth and Families for Behavioral and Mental Health Patient Centered Outcomes Research.”
With a budget of just under $75,000 USD, we conducted focus groups and learned from youth ages 11-18 and adults some of their perceptions of mental health and religion in the Black community. Using qualitative methods, we identified a theme in the messages we heard which we labeled as: MENTAL HEALTH/ILLNESS AS TABOO/SOURCE OF STIGMA.
“But then there’s the stigma of you’re a Christian so how in the world do you even have depression or how in the world are you not managing it, why do you need medications. Then it became, okay, you’re Black so you’re strong. You should be able to handle it and you shouldn’t even need to talk to people, or you shouldn’t need to go there, or you shouldn’t have to have these feelings in the first place because Black people are strong people.”
— Teen AAKOMA Project Study Participant
Team AAKOMA
We are looking for the next group of passionate intersectional POC teens to help guide our program, thus enabling us to ensure that the messages we convey and the treatments we propose resonate deeply with all young people.
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