Click here if you want to bring Lineage Project to your organization.

In classes with young people and adults, we explore how resilience is both internal and external, individual and collective. We practice ways to honor our inner strengths and build resilience by making space for joy, gratitude, rest, and “soaking in the good” when we can.  

A 16-year-old student created this “Tree of Strength” to illustrate some of the qualities that make up her resilience.

What would your tree look like?

How We Work

Research demonstrates that ongoing mindfulness transforms mental and physical health by supporting nervous system regulation, self-awareness, skillful decision-making and deepening resilience. 

At the heart of Lineage’s teaching approach is our collective attunement and honoring of all the ways that traumatic experiences impact the brain, body, and nervous system. We’ve honed this approach over two-plus decades of teaching mindfulness inside systems with disproportionately high numbers of young people with developmental trauma and mental health challenges (as we know, this is no “accident” but rather a systemic response to young people—particularly Black and brown young people—experiencing  difficult life circumstances and various kinds of harm).  

We teach mindfulness for real life. Our students are experts in their own experience. We are there to share what we know about mindfulness and somatic practices that can support their wellbeing and help them cope with difficult situations, and to help them recognize, honor and share the strengths and strategies they carry inside themselves and their communities.

We don’t treat mindfulness practice as a cure-all. It does not erase the harms caused by oppression and structural violence but we know — and the science backs up — that it can help mitigate the impact of toxic stress. We continually study how traumatic experiences impact the brain, body, and nervous system, infusing this knowledge into every dimension of our work. 

We believe that feeling a sense of belonging is vital. We tailor our classes to the needs, interests, and abilities of the students in the room. Students learn ways to help regulate their nervous systems, strengthen their self-awareness and decision-making, and build community bonds. Unlike NYC’s wellness sector at large, our staff is majority people of color. And we are actively creating pathways for alumni of our programs to become Lineage teachers. 

We share simple practices that are easy to do anywhere, anytime. Our goal is to share resources that our students can call on over and over again, without needing a yoga mat, an “expert” teacher, or a pricey yoga studio.

We teach in-person, hybrid and virtual programs. We are here to meet our students and our site partners where they are.

Our Core Programs

We offer fee-for-service programs across New York City for young people and adult staff in schools and in the court, foster care, psychiatric care, shelter, immigration and suspension systems.

We teach in approximately 20 sites each year. Our programs run anywhere from 12 weeks to year-long. Classes are typically 45-60 minutes. Once per week is the minimum, but we know — and the science backs up — that frequent, ongoing practice magnifies the benefits of the practices we share.

Our programs are relationships, not transactions. We build our programs collaboratively with our partner sites, and tailor them to the needs, strengths, and culture of our partner sites. Our programs can consist of a combination of the following components:

• Drop-in mindfulness classes for young people;

• Professional development workshops for staff;

• Family and caregiver workshops;

• Cohort-based, deep dive community programs:

  A ten-week, cohort-style training program for young people impacted by the foster care and/or criminal legal systems that offers: 1) a deep dive into mindfulness and the science behind how it works, in a tight-knit, supportive atmosphere; 2) robust weekly participation stipends to make this time-intensive commitment to their wellbeing more sustainable for them; and 3) opportunities to design their own mindfulness practices and teach them to their peers; and 4) a pathway to join Lineage as teachers-in-training for alumni who feel passionate about taking their mindfulness practice and commitment to social justice even deeper.

• Whole system programs:

  A holistic model designed to offer the most comprehensive level of support we can offer, combining classes for young people, staff and (when possible) caregivers for a minimum of 6 months or more.

Rates

We offer our fee-for-service programs on a sliding scale, to help ensure that our programs can get where they belong.

Site partners on the higher end of our sliding scale enable us to sustain partnerships with smaller, resource-strapped community based organizations. This balancing act is part of how we ensure that we can program as widely as we can, maintain the staffing and financial bandwidth to experiment and, at the same time, ensure that we can fiscally sustain Lineage.

Testimonials

Young people who completed our program with the NYC Department of Probation said:

“Lineage classes helped me manage stress and understand to look at things externally (in context) as well as internally (how I feel) then choose to respond rather than react. It was great, fun, interesting, and well needed.”

“It made me feel validated, like the things that I feel or go through happens to everyone.” 

“These mindfulness classes were very positive on my mental health.”

For decades, Lineage has taught classes for young people who are court-involved. We have worked inside incarceration facilities, alternative-to-incarceration programs, with youth on probation, and in partnership with community-based organizations that work system-impacted young people.

Published research shows Lineage classes offer resources for court-involved young people to manage intense emotions, cope with stress/anxiety, and may reduce system re-involvement. Read the full article here. 

“When I was upstate in detention, I didn’t have no patience. I just wanted to be out. But then when I was out, it was like I was still locked up, my mind was still locked up.”
— Student at Horizon (secure detention center)

Lineage teaches youth in a family homeless shelter. The Village Voice published a feature article and video about this program.

Lineage Project teaches throughout the NYC public school system, with a specific focus on working with students in suspension schools and in transfer high schools. Our school-based classes are typically scheduled as part of the regular school day. We teach full-year and semester-long programs.

Research on our work in a transfer high school shows students developed increased self-awareness, self-knowledge, and a more compassionate response to themselves and others. 

We work with a wide range of city, state, and community-based organizations throughout NYC working to support young people.

Lineage program evaluation showed 95% of our students became more aware of their body and thoughts; 90% became more aware of their emotions; 100% felt calmer; and 86% discovered better ways to manage stress.

The heart that gives, gathers.

Lineage’s program sites generally cannot pay the true cost of our programs, and it is the generosity of our community that makes our work possible. Lineage Project is a nonprofit 501(c)3.

Click to make a tax-deductible, secure donation by credit card.

We are grateful.