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Honoring and recognizing Inner Strength Education during the celebration of its 10-Year Anniversary for its decade of transformative work empowering Philadelphia's youth through mindfulness-based social-emotional learning, trauma-sensitive mentoring, and whole-person developmental programming, as part of the Children & Youth Spotlight, which celebrates community-centered organizations uplifting young people across the City.
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WHEREAS, The Council of the City of Philadelphia recognizes that the well-being, emotional resilience, and long-term success of young people are essential to building safer communities, stable families, and a stronger, more compassionate Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Inner Strength Education, founded in 2014 by visionary educator and award-winning author Amy Edelstein, is dedicated to helping adolescents realize their higher potential through calm, curiosity, compassion, and confidence, guided by Edelstein's 40 years of expertise in contemplative and restorative youth development within Philadelphia's schools; and
WHEREAS, Over the last decade, Inner Strength Education has provided its innovative mindfulness-based programming to more than 35,000 Philadelphia middle and high school students, and while also offering stress-management and wellness sessions to 5,000 teachers and administrators across the School District of Philadelphia, significantly contributing to improved school climate and student mental health; and
WHEREAS, Inner Strength's trauma-sensitive curriculum equips young people with practical tools-including mindfulness practices, systems thinking, and emotional regulation strategies-that help them manage anxiety, understand stress within both social and biological contexts, and experience greater optimism, perseverance, self-compassion, and belonging; and
WHEREAS, Research conducted by Syracuse University since 2015 has demonstrated statistically significant improvements among Inner Strength participants in key indica...
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