Hi Jason! Thank you so much for all your very thoughtful comments and ideas! (and also for your decision to support us in 2023!) Want to take a minute to respond to some of your points:
Funding from non-EA sources: absolutely! We are so grateful that the EA-community is willing to take some risks on new organizations before they have a track record. With the results that we are able to demonstrate early on, we are absolutely planning on applying for counterfactual funding. In fact, as an example of this we were just selected to be part of the South Park Commons Social Innovators Fellowship, which is hosted in collaboration with the Agency Fund.
Mixed-payer model / sliding fee scale: yes, this is also a possibility we are keeping in the cards if needed, always keep in mind our mission. Our target populations are low-income communities and refugees: people who would not otherwise be able to access services (for example, we’ve found for some people even the $0.50 bus fees to attend are prohibitive). Additionally, I have talked with other mental health program founders (from Europe) who have warned me of being careful about the mission drift that can happen when taking on high-value paying customers (even with the positive goal of them subsidising other people...seems even with the best of intentions, they say it can be hard not to end up focusing more on the people who pay...).
Local fundraising / government funding: yes! This is actually part of our long-term plans. There is significant research that demonstrates improving one’s mental health results in improvements to physical health. We would like to demonstrate that this program can actually be a cost-savings to the national public health system. Furthermore, a recent UNICEF study found that untreated mental illness costs $30B a year in Latin America, making a very good case for national governments to dedicate more of their current public health budgets to mental health (currently less than 2% according to the PAHO).
Local leadership and talent: I completely agree, - this is one of my favorite points that you bring up! Latin America is full of highly educated, very experienced professionals, and so this is who we will continue to hire. Something that differentiates us from Strong Minds. I am committed that our staff from all levels be locally based in Latin America, both as a cost-savings measure and especially to benefit from this incredible local talent- their professional connections, local knowledge, and personal understanding of the needs of the people we serve.
Happy to chat with you further or answer any other questions that might come up—open invite to anyone to find a time on my calendar.
Hi Jason! Thank you so much for all your very thoughtful comments and ideas! (and also for your decision to support us in 2023!) Want to take a minute to respond to some of your points:
Funding from non-EA sources: absolutely! We are so grateful that the EA-community is willing to take some risks on new organizations before they have a track record. With the results that we are able to demonstrate early on, we are absolutely planning on applying for counterfactual funding. In fact, as an example of this we were just selected to be part of the South Park Commons Social Innovators Fellowship, which is hosted in collaboration with the Agency Fund.
Mixed-payer model / sliding fee scale: yes, this is also a possibility we are keeping in the cards if needed, always keep in mind our mission. Our target populations are low-income communities and refugees: people who would not otherwise be able to access services (for example, we’ve found for some people even the $0.50 bus fees to attend are prohibitive). Additionally, I have talked with other mental health program founders (from Europe) who have warned me of being careful about the mission drift that can happen when taking on high-value paying customers (even with the positive goal of them subsidising other people...seems even with the best of intentions, they say it can be hard not to end up focusing more on the people who pay...).
Local fundraising / government funding: yes! This is actually part of our long-term plans. There is significant research that demonstrates improving one’s mental health results in improvements to physical health. We would like to demonstrate that this program can actually be a cost-savings to the national public health system. Furthermore, a recent UNICEF study found that untreated mental illness costs $30B a year in Latin America, making a very good case for national governments to dedicate more of their current public health budgets to mental health (currently less than 2% according to the PAHO).
Local leadership and talent: I completely agree, - this is one of my favorite points that you bring up! Latin America is full of highly educated, very experienced professionals, and so this is who we will continue to hire. Something that differentiates us from Strong Minds. I am committed that our staff from all levels be locally based in Latin America, both as a cost-savings measure and especially to benefit from this incredible local talent- their professional connections, local knowledge, and personal understanding of the needs of the people we serve.
Happy to chat with you further or answer any other questions that might come up—open invite to anyone to find a time on my calendar.