Lineage Project Inc

“Prior to each year's filing, Lineage Project's Form 990 is presented by the external accounting firm handling that years' independent review or audit to: the Board of Director's Finance and Audit Committee (FAC), including the Board Treasurer and the Co-Executive Directors-each of whom have time to comprehensively review the Form 990 and ask questions of the firm. As a standing practice, the Form 990 is also circulated to the entire Board of Directors for a more generalized review.”

“During the tax year, Lineage Project's Audited/Reviewed Financial Statements and Form 990s from prior fiscal years were made available to the public for review/download via the organization's website (lineageproject.org). Additionally, other governing documents and the organization's conflict of interest policy were made available to the public by request.”

“Yes, Lineage Project has a written conflict of interest policy, and the organization regularly and consistently monitored and enforced compliance with the policy during the tax year. All members of the Board of Directors review and sign the written policy on an annual basis, and new board members review and sign the policy as part of their orientation to board service. Lineage's Board Chair and our Co-Executive Directors are primarily responsible for the first steps in assessing any potential conflicts of interest among board members and enforcing compliance. Should a perceived or actual conflict require additional attention beyond these parties, it would be raised with the entire Board of Directors and, if warranted, outside counsel.”

“Yes, the process for assessing and determining compensation for the Co-Executive Directors included independent review and approval by the Board of Directors, whose deliberation and decision was contemporaneously substantiated.”

“Mission statement Lineage teaches trauma-sensitive mindfulness to young people (14-24 y.o.) and adult staff inside NYC's criminal legal, foster care, education, shelter, immigration, and school suspension systems-providing easy-to-use tools to manage stress and uncertainty; nourishing students' imaginations and "mental fitness" (as some students in an incarceration facility describe it); cultivating collective care and community; and breaking down systemic race/class barriers to mindfulness education. We're also beginning to build professional pathways for alumni; teach in Spanish; and work with caregivers. Lineage Project's vision is for young people-especially Black & brown young people inside/impacted by systems-to: 1) access free, simple, portable mindfulness tools that support inner + collective wellbeing; 2) learn about their brains, bodies, and nervous systems in ways that make sense to them, are attuned to/reflective of their lived experiences, and help them move through life with-whenever possible-more ease, choice, joy, and capacity; and 3) experience a deep sense of belonging, support and care-particularly from the adults around them.”

“4a. Whole Facility Program The Whole Facility program embeds culturally-resonant, trauma-conscious mindfulness and somatics into the organizational culture of NYC systems by working with staff members (both direct service and executive), young people, and caregivers (whenever possible) in a single facility or institution deeply, over time. To our knowledge, mindfulness work inside systems has never been done at this depth/scale. Why the Whole Facility Model: There is an established empirical research base about the benefits of consistent mindfulness practice as an alternative or complementary treatment for depression, PTSD, and other mental challenges. However, this research doesn't account for-let alone center-the unique challenges, experiences and needs of young people inside of complex, traumatic and under-resourced systems. It also doesn't account for the needs of the adults that make up these systems, or the relationships between the adults and young people inside them. The Whole Facility Program changes that. Linage's 23+ years of experience working with young people in the criminal legal and other systems make crystal clear that simultaneously working with young people and adult staff is essential to the mental health and wellbeing of the young people inside any facility/institution/system. Systems, after all, are made up of people. Moment by moment, and action by action, staff members inside systems and institutions-from senior administrators, therapists and case managers to the people who work in a cafeteria-are essential stakeholders in transforming the legacies of structural harm and racialized oppression that have pervaded them from their founding. Additionally, young people inside systems are often seen as problems to be fixed, and their insights, awareness, and strategies for coping are not valued or built on. Further, young people and adult staff are rarely given opportunities to share with one another-in structured and supported ways-what is happening in and for them-and they are rarely supported to co-build community within an environment that can damage them both. Program evaluation is integral to the Whole Facility model. Working with Dr. Anna MacKay-Brandt, a clinical neuropsychologist at the NYS Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, program implementation and evaluation data will be used to determine the feasibility of replicating/scaling this program in other institutional settings. In 2022, in partnership with the social services agency Rising Ground (RG), Lineage designed and implemented our first "Whole Facility" program-providing mindfulness training to every young person and staff member at a "Close to Home" incarceration facility. Highlights of the 9-month program include: Weekly trauma-sensitive mindfulness classes for incarcerated young people: that incorporated culturally-resonant multimedia; Three-tiered staff professional development: - Monthly professional development trainings for staff from multiple Rising Ground facilities across NYC; - Weekly sustainability learning labs for staff; and - Day-long retreats for site directors, administrators, and front-line staff designed to offer a restorative space for mindfulness practice, journaling, and collective-care exercises to support team building and sustainability. Customized recordings-called "portable practices"-to increase participants' continued access to mindfulness activities; Substantive qualitative data from participants and Lineage staff delivering curriculum on the ground. The professional development dimension of this pilot represents the most comprehensive staff training in Lineage's history, with the broadest reach. We trained a diverse range of Rising Ground staff-including front-line facility staff, youth counselors, therapists, facility directors, clinical supervisors, and the new Vice-President of Programs. Additionally, Rising Ground's program model centers credible messengers (people who themselves are directly impa”

“Programs for Young People Inside/Impacted by Systems: Our core mindfulness programs are generally held inside systems, facilities, institutions, and schools, with options for remote programs. These classes are typically 1-hour long and run 1-3 times per week, for an average of 3-9 months. Whether participants engage with us for a few classes or several months, we provide them with information and tools for portable personal practices that can continuously support their wellbeing. Whenever possible, we teach young people and system staff side-by-side. Some of the most powerful breakthroughs happen when young people and adult staff step outside of their usual ways of being and practice together. Of note, alumni of all our programs for young people have lifetime access to our Public Trainings, free of charge. 1) We taught our core trauma-sensitive mindfulness programs to young people (12-24) in/impacted by systems at 8 sites across NYC. We taught young people at/in partnership with: Trinity Youth After School (sports, art, educational programs); Rising Ground (agency operating incarceration facilities); Capitol Juvenile Secure Detention Center (a pretrial juvenile jail"); Homes for the Homeless (operates shelters and services for families that are unhoused); NYC DYCD (city agency funding youth programs); Brooklyn Emerging Leaders Academy ("BELA"-an all-girls' charter high school in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn); Crotona Academy (an "alternate learning center" for students who have been suspended from their home schools); and Leaders High School (an Outward Bound school). The Clinical Director of Rising Ground said this about Lineage's work with incarcerated young people: "One thing that our clinical staff is always trying [is] to have the youth make connections between feelings, thoughts, and actions. [Lineage classes give] young people a chance to practice that process of noticing what's happening for them in the moment. They learn to say, 'What are things that can help me Take a second and stop and think before I act? How do I stop and make a safe decision for myself right now?'...Mindfulness helps them see what's really going on."”

“4c. Programs for Systems Staff: Through our professional development (PD) work with the adults who make up NYC systems, Lineage supports them to: 1) acknowledge and help mitigate their (and their peers') compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, and burnout; 2) more deeply understand the critical impact their inner regulation and wellbeing have on young people; 3) cultivate and sustain increased empathy for the young people they work with-who are all too often seen by systems as problems to fix; 4) more skillfully conduct high-stakes relational work with young people experiencing trauma; and 5) learn how/when to employ mindfulness tools at work-to support both themselves and young people. We do all of this by increasing staff's access to strategies and education about the brain, body, and nervous system-including tools to support their inner regulation, and ability to co-regulate when interacting with young people. We trained staff at 5 sites that work with young people inside systems-supporting staff members to work more effectively and empathetically with young people, reducing their secondary trauma and burnout, and building cultures of collective care inside their organizations. Since 2020, we have seen a significant uptick in demand for our professional development (PD) work. Initially catalyzed by the pandemic, this demand has remained high. As noted by one school administrator, professionals of all stripes are "woefully underprepared" to meet young people's complex needs in this moment. Professional Development (PD) highlights include: A 5-month long professional training for student advisors, administrators and faculty at the City University of New York's ASAP Foster Care Initiative (a university program designed to provide a structured support system for students with a history in foster care by providing access to academic, social, financial and psychosocial support). Professional development workshops/trainings for staff at: John Adams High School (a community school in Queens); Youth Represent (community legal services for young people of color); Kids In Need of Defence ("KIND"-an NGO devoted to the protection of unaccompanied and separated children); and the Interdependence Project (nonprofit educating + supporting mindfulness teachers). Participants in a 2023 training for 60 youth workers at WhedCO were asked how mindfulness and collective care would shift their workplace. They said: "There would not be so much chaos, more positive energy." "It would improve morale." [E]veryone would try harder to support one another and check in with one another in a more meaningful way." "It would keep us open-minded."”