Mission and Vision

The mission of The Hawn Foundation is to equip children with the social and emotional skills they need to navigate the challenges of the contemporary world in order to lead smarter, healthier, and happier lives.

Working with leading neuroscientists, educators, and researchers, The Hawn Foundation developed the evidence-based MindUP™ program, a family of social, emotional, and attentional self-regulatory skills and strategies developed for cultivating wellbeing, emotional balance, and resiliency. Among the various MindUP™ skills taught to students, focused attention and nonreactive monitoring of experience from moment to moment without judgement display the potential to have a long-term impact on brain function and social and emotional behavior.

Our MindUP™ programs for Pre-K through second grade, third through fifth grades, and sixth through eighth grades have been implemented in classrooms by over 1000 educators throughout the United States and Canada to help children:

• Reduce stress and anxiety;
• Improve concentration and academic performance;
• Understand the brain science linking emotions, thoughts, and behaviors;
• Manage emotions and behavior more effectively;
• Develop greater empathy for others and the world;
• Be optimistic and happy. 

MindUP™ and the Foundation's other philanthropic initiatives foster increased self-awareness, emotional resiliency, and mental and physical well-being in both children and their teachers.