We are a non-profit organization whose mission is to cultivate human potential and resiliency locally and globally through education, mentorship, and programming centered on an understanding of the mind that SPARKs innate mental health.
Our Programs
5,000+
More than 5,000 youth have received our SPARK Mentoring Program in a group setting or through one-on-one mentoring at no cost to students or their families.
1,500+
Over 1,500 local, incarcerated Women, US military veterans, and Sex Trafficking Survivors have participated in our Insight to Wellbeing Program at no cost.
20+
We have graduated 20+ young change-makers from our leadership program since its inception in 2021. These students acquire skills, mental health education, and necessary work experience.
350+
The SPARK Initiative has trained 350+ schools and organizations in 42 US states and 36 countries, reaching over 200,000 young people worldwide.
Our Story
The SPARK Initiative is a non-profit organization that develops and delivers evidence-based leadership and mentoring programs that focus on promoting mental health, wellness, and resiliency in youth, sex trafficking survivors, and incarcerated men and women.
Helping Men and Women Who Were Incarcerated
Founded in 2007, The SPARK Initiative became the first non-profit organization in Tampa, FL, to provide free programs to the incarcerated population that were derived from corporate leadership and wellness training concepts used in British Aeronautical Engineers, Tradewinds Resorts, and Risser Oil companies, among others. These programs spoke directly to the health inside of the incarcerated men and women instead of the illness or circumstances that led them there.
From 2007 – 2012, The SPARK Initiative served more than 2,500 incarcerated individuals. The Second Chance Training Program was facilitated for inmates and staff in correctional facilities throughout Hillsborough County. Through this experience, we identified the increasing need for a preventative approach. Far too often, we would hear participants of our programs say, “I wish I would have learned this sooner.” Or “They should teach this in school.”
Shift Towards Prevention with Teen Mentoring
In order to reach those in need sooner, we began to work with our community’s most vulnerable population, our teens. In 2014, the first SPARK Mentoring Program was developed to Speak to the Potential, Ability, and Resilience inside every Kid.
In 2016, through many requests from other schools and organizations watching the impact our work was having in Tampa, we released the SPARK Teen Mentoring program to the public. The SPARK Pre-Teen program followed this in 2017, the SPARK Child Program in 2018, and the SPARK Young Child Program in 2020. The SPARK curriculum has since been published in 4 academic journals for its efficacy in creating individual and systemic change, identified by CASEL as a SELect program and implemented in over 40 states in the US and 36 countries around the world.
Continuous Service to Our Community’s Most Vulnerable Populations
Today, all of the programs and services at The SPARK Initiative, including the SPARK Mentoring programs, are implemented throughout our own community by our small team of 8. Each week, we meet youth, sex trafficking survivors, and incarcerated men and women where they are and shine a light on the Mental Health and Resilience already inside of them (their SPARK). Instead of focusing on what a person is lacking, we create a space for people to discover the resilience, well-being, and potential already available to them.
Through this education, people become better equipped to navigate their circumstances and less likely to fall victim to the inner workings of their feelings and emotions.
This year, in our community:
SPARK Mentoring Programs will be taught to over 750 students at no charge to parents or schools.
The Insight to Well-being program will be taught to over 300 women, military veteran men, and juvenile inmates.
SPARK will invest in 8-10 teen interns through our SPARKing Change Intern Program.
SPARK will donate 40 support group sessions to a local safe house for sex trafficking survivors, which will reach over 100 women
Our Values
WE BELIEVE...
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At the core of all of our programs is the belief that no one is broken. While trauma is real, there is an essential component of every human being that remains untouched – our SPARK. When we understand the difference between the activities of our mind and the power of our SPARK, true transformation begins
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When someone speaks to our SPARK and not our behavior, we see new possibilities and our true potential begins to reveal itself.
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We found that when people see their resilience and the potential of their minds on an insightful level, something magical happens. Each time so-called “broken” and “hopeless” kids (and adults) have insight into their innate resilience, mental well-being, and potential, possibilities open up for them, their creative juices start flowing again, and they know how to solve their problems.
They become leaders and mentors themselves.
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We believe everyone has a valuable SPARK and deserves a place at the table, so we focus on speaking to who a person is, rather than dwelling on negative behaviors or circumstances.
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Our programs and mentors celebrate everyone’s unique SPARK by ensuring everyone is valued and given an opportunity to be guided by their SPARK.
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We strive to foster opportunities that support and recognize every individual’s SPARK while building community, remembering that what makes us unique is also what connects us.
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As an organization that is founded on serving our community’s most vulnerable population, we must be resilient and steady. We strive every day to take actions that are in our stakeholders’ best interest. That means we are consistently asking ourselves, as individuals and as an organization, if we are aligned with our values. Ensuring the small decisions we make everyday lead to the impact we want to make in our community.
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Above all, in an often divisive world, we work to deliver services that cultivate more peace and love within each person and organization we work with.
Our Team
We are a passionate group of educators and mentors who have been deeply impacted by an understanding of the resilience of our mind, our innate mental health, and the potential that lies within everyone, our SPARK. These personal transformations have led us to dedicate our lives to bringing out the SPARK in everyone, everywhere.
Our personal insights have led to:
Improved relationships with our spouses, partners, and kids
Decreased anxiety and depression
Increased personal agency and self-awareness
A sense of ease in the face of adversity
Our Partners
We would like to acknowledge the following organizations for their collaboration and support.
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The Cypress Initiative DBA, The SPARK Initiative is recognized as a not-for-profit organization that is tax-exempt from federal income taxation. We are classified as a 501(c) 3 by the IRS.
Our Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 20-8378337
Donors to The Cypress Initiative are permitted to deduct contributions as provided in Section 170 of the IRS Code. The Cypress Initiative acknowledges that no goods or services were provided in exchange for this gift.