MILES JEFFREY ROBERTS FOUNDATION
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to empower the youth athletic community to promote mental well-being and suicide prevention in Washtenaw County. We strive to support youth well-being through evidence-based programs and policies. We are especially interested in programs that help build key skills, relationships, and connections in the community to develop and promote social and emotional health. We believe partnerships with teens, families, teachers, coaches, healthcare providers, spiritual leaders, and community organizers can all contribute to building positive social and emotional well-being in today’s youth.
About This Cause
The MJR Foundation was established in August of 2019 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in honor of Miles Jeffrey Roberts, who died by suicide on May 29th, 2017. Suicide is an epidemic that continues to rise, particularly in our youth. According to the CDC in 2017, 6,252 young people ages 15 to 24 were reported as deaths by suicide in the U.S. Suicide was the second leading cause of death in this age group. Miles was one of these deaths. MJRF was started by the Roberts Family as a response to our grief and a newfound purpose to prevent suicide and increase mental well-being in youth. Miles was a youth working to balance the demands of school, family, athletics, friends, social media and more. His natural high during sports was contagious and these connections with coaches and teammates helped to nourish his mental wellness. He was not on the radar for self-harm and death by suicide. We look to help others like Miles thrive and build a safety net of trusted support through their athletic interactions. We launched our MJRF Champions Program in 2022 at Skyline High School, where Miles was a Freshman at the time of his death at age 15. The MJRF Champion program is a pilot program intended to be transformative in approach for engaging youth athletes through trusted adults. Counselors currently focus on academics and special needs (IEP, 504s) which leaves limited time to address students with needs for mental health support. The Skyline pilot is a 3 year MJRF funded program with a goal to demonstrate evidence based outcomes and to be sustainable by Skyline/AAPS at year 4 as part of the school curriculum. The MJRF Mental Health Champions are funded positions which lead impactful programming aimed at supporting Skyline High School student-athletes’ social and emotional mental health. Programs are developed with support from the Miles Jeffrey Roberts Foundation and leading health care professionals within Skyline High School/Ann Arbor Public Schools, UM Depression Center, Washtenaw County Community Mental Health (WCCMH), Washtenaw Intermediate School District, and any additional community resources that are interested in engaging with MJRF on this initiative . Programs are implemented through various platforms in partnership with student-athletes, coaches, school administration and families. Skyline pilot is our lead school "sandbox" for program development with a playbook output by end of year 2 that will be shared across other high schools in Washtenaw County. Our MJRF Champions will grow the champion presence at other Washtenaw County schools by engaging and partnering to establish embedded champions in each respective school. Our long-term goal is to partner with other funding agencies and high schools to place MJRF Mental Health Champions within local high schools in Washtenaw County and across Michigan.