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Beyond the Surface: Understanding Mental Health Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Youth

The Asian American Foundation PROJECT
Beyond the Surface: Understanding Mental Health Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Youth by The Asian American Foundation

credits

Title
  • Beyond the Surface: Understanding Mental Health Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Youth
Entrant
  • The Asian American Foundation

About This Project

Summary

On Dec. 12, 2024, TAAF published Beyond the Surface, one of the nation’s most comprehensive studies exploring the mental health of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) youth. To ensure key findings from the study – which had few direct precedents – could reach parents, newsrooms, and young people, we launched a sustained press and social media campaign with a focus on reaching younger audiences on TikTok and Instagram.

Goals & Objectives

We sought to: 1. Inform parents, mental health professionals, researchers, lawmakers, and journalists about the struggles and strengths of AANHPI young people. 2. Spark open dialogue about the unique pressures AANHPI youth face. 3. Identify actionable ways to secure a path towards healing.

Results & Impact

Beyond the Surface received 522 press hits (including NBC News and the Boston Globe), with 6.4M impressions and a potential audience of 191M. Posts about the first-of-its-kind study by creators like Anna Akana and Leenda Dong garnered 3.25M views, 116k likes and comments, and 2.5k shares.

the team

Sruthi Chandrasekaran
  • Director of Data and Research
  • The Asian American Foundation
Matt Kamibayashi
  • Senior Research Associate
  • The Asian American Foundation
Joy Moh
  • Head of Communications and Marketing
  • The Asian American Foundation
Jon Stone
  • Director of Communications
  • The Asian American Foundation
Polly Fong
  • Creative Manager
  • The Asian American Foundation
Beverly Liang
  • Project Manager
  • The Asian American Foundation
Lakshmi Hutchinson
  • ?Content Writer
  • The Asian American Foundation
Norman Chen
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • The Asian American Foundation
Georgette Bhathena
  • Chief Programs Officer
  • The Asian American Foundation
Andy Kang
  • Director of Anti-Hate
  • The Asian American Foundation
Masum Momaya
  • Director of Narrative Change
  • The Asian American Foundation
Eugena Oh
  • Regional Director, New York
  • The Asian American Foundation
Lena Pham
  • Database and Research Specialist
  • The Asian American Foundation
April Yee
  • Director of Education
  • The Asian American Foundation
Maritza Hernandez
  • Senior Designer
  • The DataFace
Aria Todd
  • Senior Designer
  • The DataFace
Sam Vickars
  • Design Director
  • The DataFace
Lesley Huang
  • Data Viz Developer
  • The DataFace
Arjun Kakkar
  • Senior Developer
  • The DataFace