Bringing Peer-to-Peer Mental Health Support to Omaha: The Kim Foundation Partners with Our Minds Matter

The Kim Foundation (TKF) is proud to announce a new partnership with Our Minds Matter (OMM) to expand peer-to-peer mental health programming for teens in Omaha. Founded in 2012, OMM is a national leader in empowering students to build healthier school cultures by strengthening social connectedness, resilience, and help-seeking. Their proven club model helps schools create multi-tiered systems of support that foster belonging and reduce suicide risk.

OMM clubs focus on building skills across four core pillars that directly enhance youth mental health:

• Promoting social connectedness
• Increasing prosocial skills
• Practicing self-care and healthy habits
• Encouraging help-seeking

What began as a small initiative in five Fairfax County schools has since grown into a nationwide network of hundreds of student-led clubs, with the majority still anchored in the DC-Maryland-Virginia region.

Our partnership was formed after TKF connected with OMM following their presentation at the 2024 Advancing School Mental Health Conference. With shared missions and aligned values, both organizations saw a powerful opportunity to strengthen youth mental health in Omaha through evidence-based, student-driven programming.

Through this collaboration, TKF will launch a pilot of OMM with Omaha Public Schools at two schools, supported by OMM’s training, resources, and technical assistance. This pilot will help us explore how OMM’s model can be adapted to meet local needs, inform future expansion, and complement TKF’s Brighter Tomorrows prevention framework.

This partnership represents an important step toward expanding protective factors for youth, reducing stigma, and empowering students with the tools they need to support themselves and each other.

The Kim Foundation is excited to bring this nationally recognized program to Omaha and looks forward to the positive impact this partnership will bring to students, schools, and our community.