School Connect Project
Bridging the gap between your community and the classroom.
Every student deserves a school culture that prioritizes mental health, but many educators don't know where to start. You can be the spark that changes that. The School Connect Project is a collection of free digital tools designed to help individuals, community groups, and companies advocate for mental health literacy, depression education and suicide prevention in their local schools.
You don't need to be an educator to make an impact. You just need to be a connector.
School Professionals: If you are looking for school-based curriculum, please Create An Account to gain access to all of our no-cost, fully supported programs.
The Four Components of the School Connect Project
Why does connection matter?
Schools are often overwhelmed and under-resourced. By acting as a bridge, you help remove the administrative burden from educators, introducing them to a turnkey, no-cost solution that is already proven to save lives. When the community and the school align, we create a "safety net" of support that surrounds students wherever they go.
The School Connect Project simplifies advocacy. We provide the scripts, the templates, and the data, so you can focus on what matters: ensuring that no student in your community feels alone.
Support & Scaling
Erika’s Lighthouse is a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring mental health literacy is accessible to every school, anywhere.
- The Toolkit: All digital advocacy tools in the School Connect Project are always free for anyone to download and use to accelerate our mission.
- Strategic Support: If your organization or company is looking to launch a large-scale "School Connect" initiative across an entire region or state, this high-level consultation is available through strategic partnership and sponsorship agreements.
Find the School(s)
Map out your local schools and target your impact. This component gives you the tools to identify schools that may not be using Erika's Lighthouse.
- GreatSchools: Use the nation's most comprehensive database to identify the schools near you to impact.
- Impact Dashboard: Compare local schools to Erika's Lighthouse Impact Dashboard to determine enrollment status and program impact.
Step 1: Search School(s)
Search for schools you wish to to target. Ideally these are schools you have a connection with or are in your community.
Use the publicly-available GreatSchools database to search for schools by community or region.
Step 2: Verify School(s)
Once you have chosen the schools you'd like to introduce to Erika's Lighthouse, verify if they are using Erika's Lighthouse programs.
The Impact Dashboard provides real-time updates on enrollment and impact.
Identify the Contact(s)
Locate the right educator or decision-makers. Navigating school hierarchies can be challenging, so we provide tips to help you quickly find them. The "right" contact could be a school counselors to principals—who have the power to bring Erika’s Lighthouse to their students.
- School Stakeholder Chart: A visual guide explaining the roles of Principals, Counselors, Social Workers, and PTA leads.
- School Directories: Leverage school directories to identify key roles that you should contact about Erika's Lighthouse.
Step 3: Review the Key Role(s)
When you know the key roles that determine program implementation it will help you prioritize outreach. The Stakeholder Chart provides a clear guide of which roles may be implementers, decision makers and influencers.
Step 4: Search the School Directory
Now that you have your school outreach list prepared and know the type of role to target, it's time to search the local school directories and identify the specific school professional(s) to contact.
Searching school directories can be difficult and may not include contact information.
Make the Pitch
Deliver the message with confidence. Anyone can explain why these programs matter and we help by providing scripts and templates. These resources show school leadership that our programs are turnkey, high-impact, and completely free.
- ErikasLighthouse.org: Our main marketing resource for school professionals everywhere to learn about our mission.
- Program Overview Flyer: Clean, concise flyers highlighting our no-cost school curricula to leave behind after your meeting.
- Email Templates: Pre-written, professional copy customized for school professionals.
Step 5: Review Resources
Prior to reaching out to school professionals, be sure you have reviewed Erika's Lighthouse marketing materials and resources.
Additional FAQs are on the bottom of this web page.
Step 6: Reach Out
Emailing school professionals is the best way to reach out. It also offers you the ability to customize the message so it is personalized and resonates.
You are encouraged to customize the template below.
Secure An Account
Cross the finish line and lock in the impact. The ultimate goal of your outreach is to get school professionals to Create an Account so they have direct access to our materials. The final step provides the tool to guide educators through creating their free Resource Portal account, instantly unlocking our entire suite of curricula.
- Follow-Up Email: Follow-up email template to see if educators have any follow-up questions or have created an account.
- School Connect Support Form: If you receive any questions you cannot answer, simply send them to us, using the form, and we'll assist you.
Step 7: Follow-Up
After 2-3 weeks, send a follow-up email to the school professionals you contacted. This quick email reinforces they should create an account or ask any follow-up questions.
Next Steps
Secured An Account: If they created an account, congrats! Erika's Lighthouse Education Team will take it from here and support implementation.
No Response: We cannot win them all. If you do not hear from them, let it sit and try again in a few months.
Difficult Questions: If you have any questions you cannot answer, forward them us using the form below.
Want to do more?
While the School Connect Project is designed to be turnkey, we know that connecting with school professionals and expanding our program requires a deeper level of partnership. We see the value of this high-level support every day with our school partners.
You can help accelerate our growth and expansion in your area through Strategic Support and Sponsorship. With your support Erika's Lighthouse can put qualified, local school professionals as "boots on the ground" to promote programming and work with their peers to bring our life-saving, evidence-informed curriculum to classrooms anywhere.
Our Impact Partners Supporting Their Community
Erika’s Lighthouse is proud to collaborate with corporations, foundations and other funders to expand Erika's Lighthouse and provide 1-on-1 support to any school, anywhere. Thanks to these dedicated partnerships Erika's Lighthouse is supporting more schools and students in more areas.
Here's who is taking youth mental health seriously:
Illinois
*healthy blue logo*
Kansas
*healthy blue logo*
Virginia
*healthy blue logo*
Washington
*healthy blue logo*