The Laksmi Project

The Laksmi Project connects you with opportunities to create, cultivate, and sustain regenerative resources to thrive.

In This Together Part 2: Advocating to End Gun Violence and Promote Community Healing

Thursday, April 17th | 6pm - 7pm CST | via Zoom 

Thank you to our panelists, Dr. Samaa Kemal, MD, MPH, Emergency Medicine, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Leslie Helmcamp, Director of Violence Prevention Initiatives with Strengthening Chicago’s Youth, and Daquan Ford, a youth fellow with Communities United.

For those that could not make it, we missed you! No matter if you were with us, we encourage you to consider how you step into this work. Through engagement, through advocacy, through volunteering - there are many ways to get involved. 

Thank you to Lurie Children's and Communities United for sharing the following ways we can take action together!

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

  • The Laksmi Project is committed to investing in Healthy Equity and Access through our support of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. This year we are supporting Strengthening Chicago’s Youth (SCY), a program of the Patrick M. Magoon Institute for Healthy Communities at Lurie Children’s. 

    SCY is a collaborative that builds capacity among public and private stakeholders to connect and mobilize towards common sense approaches to gun violence prevention. 

    SCY’s Juvenile Justice Collaborative aims to minimize further involvement of arrested youth in the justice system and reduce racial disparities by facilitating and coordinating access to comprehensive support services that meet adolescents’ developmental needs.

    If you are interested in joining The Laksmi Project’s support for SCY please reach out to Katie Fitzell, Senior Major Gifts Officer, at Lurie Children’s Foundation at kfitzell@luriechildrens.org or 847.651.2218. 

  • Improving the health and well-being of children and adolescents where they live, learn, work and play is a critical part of our mission at Lurie Children’s. For decades, our experts have partnered closely with community-based organizations and leaders, linking clinical work with grassroots expertise to develop evidence-based initiatives that help communities thrive. Supported by philanthropy, the Patrick M. Magoon Institute for Healthy Communities is the hub for all Lurie Children’s community-focused initiatives.

    Get involved here.

  • A new initiative is underway to break the cycle of violence that brings children and their families into the Emergency Room.

    Brave Voices is a new Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP) offering immediate, compassionate and culturally-informed support for young victims of violence and their families at a time when they are most vulnerable.

    Brave Voices is dedicated to building a comprehensive system of support where children and youth exposed to violence can heal, recover, and thrive within their homes and communities.

    Through holistic, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed care coordination, we provide youth survivors of violence and their families with the necessary resources to foster resilience, improve mental and physical well-being, and promote long-term healing.  

Communities United

  • Over the past 10 years, Communities United developed the Healing Through Justice (HTJ) model, a youth leadership approach that acknowledges that the process of young people acting on their vision and solutions to address issues impacting them and their families can lead to transformative health and mental health outcomes.

    The Magoon Institute and SCY have also partnered with Lurie Children’s Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health and Communities United, a community-based organization, in Healing Through Justice, a youth-led effort to promote narrative change and reshape the mental health system to better meet the needs of young people of color.

    At a time when we are facing a national youth mental health crisis, Chicago youth are leading a first-of-its kind partnership between Communities United and Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to advance youth-led solutions that promote community healing.

  • A Participatory Action Research report created by young men of color to transform mental health and the systems that serve them

    Read the report from Communities United here.

LP. Activations

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Curated by the LP., Activations are tailored to your goals to build relationships and engagement for your fundraiser, work, project, or mission.

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Mirja Spooner // Curator of Connection

Meet Your Host

Mirja Catherine Laksmi Spooner is a development leader, host, and founder of The Laksmi Project. Mirja works as a connector to cultivate relationships, engagements, and opportunities that contribute to a more abundant world. Her work lives at the intersection of community connection, strategic development, and financial engagement.

Mirja spent her career working in the arts in New York City and was the Director of Development at the Neue Galerie New York. Additionally, she worked in development at the Art Institute of Chicago raising capital funds for the Modern Wing. Mirja is a board member of The Renaissance Society, and Hyde Park Art Center. She is the Board Chair of the ChiArts Foundation, the philanthropic partner to Chicago's only public arts high school, The Chicago High School for the Arts. Mirja holds a BA in American Studies from Barnard College/Columbia University.

Mirja is currently the Director of Development at Brushwood Center, a health and nature non-profit in Lake County, IL. In 2022, Mirja started The Laksmi Project. The LP. works with organizations and individuals to create and sustain enriching connections that optimize their assets, and exceed their goals.