Our Mission

 

Children Mending Hearts is dedicated to empowering disadvantaged youth through educational and arts programs that build empathy and global citizenry. Our goal is to directly engage the youth of America in global children's causes where they can positively impact the life of another child and ultimately realize their potential to effect change both in their own community and around the world.

 

 

Founded in 2008 by Lysa Heslov, the purpose of Children Mending Hearts is to give children worldwide the power to find and use their voices through creative expression.  CMH conducts workshops in the arts in America with local homeless children's organizations, and internationally with NGO's supporting children in conflict zones.

Through a team of arts/cultural specialists who conduct workshops in the arts including painting, photography, music, dance and drama, these kids experience the joy of childhood.  Children Mending Hearts' programs help expand the individual potential of these young people by strengthening their minds through creative stimulation and helping them grow into better global citizens.

 

Domestically, Children Mending Hearts empowers local organizations that work with disadvantaged and at-risk children throughout the country.  CMH finds out what the participating organizations need, where they are lacking, and where they need help.  CMH then brings in a volunteer pool so that when they leave a city after their workshop those volunteers are able to execute the Take Action points that CMH has given them.

An exchange between at-risk children in different cultures can take a child that society views as a victim, someone who is used to receiving, and empowers, educates and encourages them by showing them how to be of service.  If a homeless child creates something for a child refugee who doesn't just have a hole in his/her shoe, but is shoeless, then this disadvantaged child goes from victim to victorious.  Children gain a sense of being an advocate, of making sense of what is going on in their world, and knowing that even the simplest actions can make a difference.  They discover that their life can feel different.

Giving children in conflict zones a touchstone to what is going on with kids in America gives them hope.  Exploring their world creatively feeds their brains. Without this outlet for expression, these children will literally stagnate in their growth.

Influenced by noted psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we believe that stimulation from these art exchanges will be the connective tissue between children in various cultures and produce a new generation with a global vision motivated by a more peaceful impulse; children who will shift from seeing others through the prism of us and them, to a vision of we.  Whether benefiting a homeless child or a gang member; a child soldier or a displaced refugee, each workshop is tailored to specific cultural diversity and needs, and utilizes unique resources and artistic tools.

 

 

Our goal is to approach emotional and intellectual poverty and conflict resolution in a new way and to change the lives of disadvantaged and at-risk children in America and abroad.  Children's voices are louder, literally and figuratively, than adults. They are not jaded and can see the possibilities. The only thing that separates children here and abroad is geography and circumstance.  They are both refugees in their own societies.  Together we can impact changing the direction of their future by helping the world hear their voices.