lululemon athletica has launched its Centre for Social Impact. The aim is to… ‘disrupt inequity in wellbeing through movement, mindfulness, and advocacy.’
‘Through the centre, lululemon will invest in removing barriers through philanthropy, research, and advocacy to support physical, mental, and social wellbeing across its local and global communities.‘
The centre will aim to unify and amplify lululemon’s existing social impact programs, such as ‘Here to Be’, as well as innovate new programs and wellbeing tools with the goal to ‘positively impact more than 10 million people globally by 2025.’
This World Mental Health Day, on October 10th, the company shared how it is supporting the work of leading non-profit organizations. Centre initiatives at launch include a US$5 million investment across a number of new and long-term local grassroots partners through lululemon’s Here to Be grant program as well as global and national non-profits. These include:
- The Girls Opportunity Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation that empowers adolescent girls around the world and their well-being through education.
- The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the United States’ largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. lululemon will help lead the establishment of a 9-8-8 crisis number for mental health and suicide prevention services.
- The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people.
“At lululemon, we believe everyone has the right to be well and we know the path to wellbeing is possible when tools, support, and resources are accessible to all,” said Esther Speck, lululemon Vice President of Global Sustainability and Social Impact.
“Through lululemon’s Centre for Social Impact, we will leverage our expertise, resources, and communities to advocate for the wellbeing of those most impacted by systemic inequity around the world.”
The new centre builds on lululemon’s commitment to wellbeing and current social impact work in this area. This includes an annual Global Wellbeing Report, mental health first aid training for lululemon employees, the Here to Be grant program, and the Peace on Purpose collaboration with the United Nations Foundation.
Since it its launch in 2016, lululemon’s Here to Be program has supported over 750 non-profit organizations, with grants amounting to US$25 million, ‘touching more than 1 million people’.
The centre will unify lululemon’s wellbeing initiatives to achieve the company’s Be Well Impact Agenda goals, which include providing access to wellbeing tools for more than 10 million people by 2025 and investing at least US$75 million to advance equity in wellbeing in its local and global communities by 2025.
www.lululemon.com/social-impact
