March Charity: The Loveland Foundation
Mission: The Loveland Foundation is committed to showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. Our resources and initiatives are collaborative and they prioritize opportunity, access, validation, and healing.
Origin: The Loveland Foundation was established in 2018 by Rachel Cargle in response to her widely successful birthday wish fundraiser, Therapy for Black Women and Girls. Her enthusiastic social media community raised over $250,000, which made it possible for Loveland to provide over 600 hours in therapy sessions for free to its first cohort of Black women and girls. Since then The Loveland Foundation has provided over 51,900 hours and counting in therapy across the country.
Barriers affecting access to treatment by members of diverse ethnic/racial groups may include:
- Lack of insurance, underinsurance
- Mental illness stigma, often greater among minority populations
- Lack of diversity among mental health care providers
- Lack of culturally competent providers
- Distrust in the health care system
- Inadequate support for mental health service in safety net settings (uninsured, Medicaid, Health Insurance Coverage other vulnerable patients)
- Historical adversity, which includes slavery, sharecropping and race-based exclusion from health, educational, social and economic resources, translates into socioeconomic disparities experienced by African Americans today. Socioeconomic status, in turn, is linked to mental health: People who are impoverished, homeless, incarcerated or have substance abuse problems are at higher risk for poor mental health.
Why Giving to the Therapy Fund is IMPORTANT NOW MORE THAN EVER
COVID -19 is disproportionately affecting minority women, 70% of Black Mothers don’t have access to paid leave, despite 80% of them being the main breadwinner for their family. According to the US HHS Office of Minority Health report Black/African Americans living below poverty are three times more likely to report serious psychological distress than those living above poverty. And while Black/African Americans are less likely than white people to die from suicide as teenagers, Black/African Americans teenagers are more likely to attempt suicide than are white teenagers. Loveland is committed to investing in the healing of black women and girls nationwide during this difficult time. Collectively we can let these women know that we are invested in their healing.
