Who We Are
The Youth Equity Project was formed to address the unspoken reality of the mental health crisis.
We founded the Youth Equity Project in January of 2023 with an immediate focus set on helping teens learn more about the rooted impacts of mental health today. The negative stigmatization surrounding mental health has integrated itself into our societal structures. Many view it as an individual weakness and this has become a harmful ideology, especially in our community today. A study done at UCLA found that Asian Americans are up to 50% more likely to not seek out help with mental health issues. A Columbia study further elaborates on how the Black population is 20% more likely to obtain mental health problems like Major Depressive Disorder or Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The Trevor Project reports that in 2022, nearly 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide as an option. All of these issues can be brought down to specific roots of the mental health crisis — and that is our societal structures and the stigmatization of mental health.
The Youth Equity Project has set a goal to eradicate these problems by educating the community on this unacknowledged — but very real — issue that persists today. We also want to involve members of the community in helping take further steps towards fixing this issue through the services we offer. Join us today on this journey!
MEET THE FOUNDERS
AADYA PANDEY
she/her
Hi, my name is Aadya! I am currently a senior in high school. One of the fundamental reasons I started this organization was to highlight all the inequalities that we see in the mental healthcare industry. Growing up, I had always been aware of this issue but was never able to get a proper picture of how it affected people, especially young people. When I started high school, I began to notice and even experience the damaging impact of these mental health stereotypes. My goal is not just to eradicate the problem, but to ensure that the people who struggle with mental health issues can get the help they deserve. Driven by my own experiences, my goal is to empower people whose voices are hidden behind this issue and to address the systemic injustice that has been unaddressed for too long. Mental health matters, and everybody deserves to feel like they matter, too.
VANDANA RAMANATHAN
she/her
Hi! I’m Vandana, a senior in high school as well. Growing up as a person of color, I have always been aware of the issues surrounding mental health, and how it isn’t addressed enough in my community. However, I never realized that I could do something about it. I started this organization to kickstart my passion for equity within the youth of Minnesota. To not just empower them, but be able to foster a sense of equity and belonging within everyone. I have struggled with mental health, and it took me a long time to get proper treatment. However, experiencing the damaging stigma surrounding mental health made me realize that everybody is unique. and everybody deserves to live an emotionally stimulating and rewarding life. This is what I’m fighting for, which is why I started YEP.