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GO GOOD | Hope For The Day!

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Did you know that about 12 youth take their own lives away each day? And that there’s about 100 times more who will even attempt to do so? That’s 1,200 youth. Every single day. And yet, people aren’t aware of it, for it’s still a very taboo subject.
Thankfully, throughout the years, more and more organizations have made it their aim to spread awareness about youth suicide through different outlets, including one that reaches everyone, young and old: music. And Hope For The Day is one of them.  The Chicago-based organization is a nonprofit movement committed to utilizing music and the arts as a defense mechanism to suicide. They strive to offer education, prevention and hope through three major projects:

MUSIC SAVED MY LIFE

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In partnership with Alternative Press, Hope For The Day launched Music Saved My Life, a video series that features musicians and artists who share their personal stories of struggling with suicide, depression and mental illness. In these PSA-style videos, each artist opens themselves on a most personal level by sharing how music has become their way of healing. This video series has already featured bands such as Tonight Alive and Memphis May Fire.

THE HOPE DEFINED PROJECT

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For this project, Hope For The Day partnered with Nickel A Day Films and high school students in Dupage County, IL in order to encourage teenagers to create movies and art that are directly related to suicide and mental health awareness and prevention. The HD Project empowers and helps students in the creation of these professionally produced film that students can then submit at no cost to the Chicago International Social Change Film Festival.

BEATKEEPERS

Lastly, the BEATKEEPERS project is a creative education program launched by Hope For The Day focusing on empowering urban youth through musical and artistic expression. BEATKEEPERS inspires 16-21 year old high-risk adolescents from low-income areas of Chicago coping with mental illness to confront suicide, community issues and oppression through lyric composition and beat making. The main goals of this project are to make teenagers part of their community, to teach them about teamwork and most importantly to build their self-esteem, which is the one thing most teenagers lack of nowadays.

KEEP UP WITH HOPE FOR THE DAY

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30-year-old writer, photographer and design editor located in Bordeaux, France. I bring queer content everywhere I go :) Inquiries at lex@stagerightsecrets.com