This week, our co-founder embarked on the Joanne World Tour and Born This Way Foundation hit the road with her. We’re calling it our Channel Kindness Tour and we’re on a mission to spread kindness and inspire bravery in communities across the country and beyond. There will be in venue pop-ups, youth-led events, and community gatherings, but we know not everyone will be able to make it to a Channel Kindness Tour stop. That’s why we’re launching the #KindFor30 Challenge.

We know that simple acts of kindness – as simple as giving someone a hug or buying a cup of coffee for the person behind you in line – can help increase our happiness and feelings of self-worth. In fact, our recent survey shows that kindness has a profound impact on a young person’s mental health with youth who describe their environments as kind having higher mental health inventory scores.

But just because kindness is powerful doesn’t mean it has to be difficult or complicated. We define kindness as an act in service to someone else, without the expectation of anything in return.In the words of our Co-Founder and President Cynthia Germanotta: “There are so many ways we can all immediately practice more kindness… Being aware of people other than yourself is an important step. Take that pause and call that friend or relative you haven’t spoken to in a while. Volunteer for something. We put going to the gym on our calendar…why not put being kind on it, too?”

Through these straightforward steps we can make the world not just kinder and braver but more inclusive, vibrant, and productive. And the #KindFor30 Challenge is here to help get you started. We’ve come up with 30 suggested activities to inspire you to share kindness with your family, friends, neighbors, and yourself!

Our team will be joining you, from the road, and we’re starting today in Seattle with Youth Cares and Treehouse. We’d love for you to join us and together, let’s see if you can complete one every day for a month – it’s that easy and if you come up with other ways to spread kindness, tell us!
So starting today, no matter where you are, we invite you to put kindness on your calendars and join us for the #KindFor30 Challenge!

Check out the challenges below and make sure you share your progress on social media with #KindFor30.

Can’t get enough #KindFor30 challenges? We got you covered.

 

This morning, the Born This Way Foundation team woke up in Vancouver, Canada.

Tonight, Lady Gaga will hit the stage for her first performance on the Joanne World Tour and we’ll be excitedly watching and dancing until our feet hurt.

But we didn’t come to Vancouver for the music – we came for the kindness.

Born This Way Foundation will leverage more than 35 tour stops by organizing or participating in a variety of events and activations that will support our mission of engaging youth to foster kindness, improve mental wellness, and create more positive environments.

The first stop last night was the Elizabeth Fry Center, in New Westminster where we had dinner with a couple dozen incredible young people, ages 6 to 16. We had the privilege of sitting with these young people, hearing their stories, and inviting them to write good luck to Lady Gaga ahead of her first performance.

I sat next to a young man, excited that I worked for Lady Gaga but eager to know if I had ever met his idols – Metallica. He detailed for us the incredible Grammy performance that Lady Gaga and Metallica gave and his parting words to me were, “Tell Lady Gaga to tell Metallica that I said hi.” I will happily pass along that message.

After dinner was served, I walked around the room and cleaned up the empty tables. I asked a beautiful young girl in the corner if I could take her plate and she said, “Sure, thanks.” As I was removing the plate in front of her, she looked up and me and said, “I’m a good person.” I felt as though I had been punched in the stomach at her innocent declaration.

“Of course you are. Of course you are,” I said, almost in tears. I don’t know what prompted her to tell me that and I don’t think my response to her was sufficient but the goal of the next five months is for us to stand alongside young people, hear and affirm their stories, and then use the platforms, voices and partnerships that we have access to work alongside these young people to build a kinder and braver world.

Last night’s room was filled with good children. Children facing serious challenges and doing so with positivity, resilience and determination. I sat down with Shawn Bayes, their Executive Director, and asked my favorite question; “What do you need? What do the children in this room need?”

She told me that they serve more than 1,700 children of incarcerated parents per year through their Saturday Club Program, their camp program, and through an incredibly emotional literacy program in which incarcerated parents record themselves reading books to their children.

Shawn told me that they need any and all of the following; camping supplies (rain gear, footwear, sleeping bags, flashlights, water bottles), new books for children (ages 0 – 16), and – for their Saturday Club – sports equipment, musical instruments and creative art supplies.

Whether or not you’re in the Vancouver area – please consider making a donation to this incredible non-profit so that they can continue their vital work to create dignity, opportunity, and equality for the amazing families that they work with.

Kindly Yours,
Maya Enista Smith

Last week was my last week at home until December, so after I put my children to bed, I sat in the hallway outside of their doors with two maps, one of the United States and one of the world, and drew dotted lines from city to city and country to country, circling push pins that indicated each tour stop.

We’ve been talking about tour for a long time in my house and in three days, on Monday morning, I fly to Vancouver, Canada for the kick off the of the Joanne World Tour and the first of dozens of events on behalf of Born This Way Foundation.

We have three goals – on this tour and beyond: we want to make kindness cool, we want to validate and support the emotions of young people around the world, and – most importantly – we want to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health and lift up stories and experiences.

I don’t have the language to explain that to my two and four year old yet, so I used the map.

When they woke up the morning after my art project, they walked into the hallway and found it. I told them that Mama is leaving and that my job when I’m gone (and always) is to help people, to be kind, to listen to people tell me stories and to share my story with them.

My son asked me questions about hemispheres, continents, and where Mickey lives and then they both skipped downstairs for breakfast. I’m going to miss a lot of questions, breakfasts, and bedtimes over the next five months and the map and our conversation that morning will remind me why.

I am going on tour so that when I come home, 35+ cities later, I will be able to tell my children about the kindness we saw (and contributed to), the communities that we supported and helped to build, the organizations that we served alongside, the companies dedicated to working across sectors to build a kinder and braver world for their workforce and neighborhoods, and the young people who were brave enough to share their stories of kindness, struggle, and resilience with us.

So what are we doing?

We’re calling it our Channel Kindness Tour – a series of pop up activations, youth led-events, and community gatherings that will serve as opportunities to be kind, be brave, and give back.

In addition to the eight Channel Kindness Awards we’ll be giving out to recognize youth leaders who are transforming their communities through kindness, we’ll have Kindness Pop Ups at select tour stops, below, around the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Concert goers will be invited to stop by and help us spread kindness, learn more about the Foundation’s work, and hear from an amazing local nonprofit.

We’ll have existing announcements over the coming days and weeks about the other amazing activities we’ll be taking part in and organizing as part of our Channel Kindness Tour – and how you can get involved even if you can’t be there in person.

So stay tuned for more details and get ready to help channel kindness!

Kindly Yours,
Maya Enista Smith
Executive Director

August

• August 1: Vancouver, BC
• August 5: Tacoma, WA
• August 8 + 9: Inglewood, CA
• August 13: San Francisco, CA
• August 19: Omaha, NE
• August 21: Saint Paul, MN
• August 23: Cleveland, OH
• August 28 + 29: Flushing, NY

September

• September 1: Boston, MA
• September 11: Philadelphia, PA
• September 15: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
• September 22: Barcelona, Spain
• September 26: Milan, Italy

October

• October 6 + 7: Paris, France
• October 9 + 10: London, United Kingdom
• October 17: Manchester, United Kingdom
• October 26: Berlin, Germany

November

• November 7: Detroit, MI
• November 13: Louisville, KY
• November 15: Kansas City, MO
• November 19: Washington, D.C.
• November 28: Atlanta, GA
• November 30: Miami, FL

December

• December 1: Tampa, FL
• December 3: Houston, TX
• December 5: Austin, TX
• December 8: Dallas, TX
• December 9: Oklahoma City, OK

We’re teaming up Peace First to bring you the first ever Channel Kindness Awards! These awards will recognize young people for their incredible work to make this world a kinder, braver place.

Learn more about Channel Kindness Awards and apply today!

Every day we hear stories about people who are using generosity and compassion to power positive change. We want to highlight these amazing people and their work. That’s why we started Channel Kindness. And that’s why we’re taking Channel Kindness on the road this summer and fall.

We’re joining our co-founder, Lady Gaga, on her Joanne World Tour in 8 different cities. We’re looking for young people, ages 13-24, who are improving their schools and bettering their communities. We’ll be picking 8 winners who will each receive help from Born This Way Foundation and Peace First and a $500 prize.

Peace First views young people as natural problem solvers and creative thinkers, and invests in their ability to see themselves as leaders. Together, we’ll help youth bring their vision for a better world to life.

Tell us about how you’re improving your community and apply today!