Greetings,
We are writing to ask that you consider sponsoring a local event that can powerfully change the way boys and young men are raised and educated in your community. This event will bring you and the organization considerable exposure, and bring together stakeholders in your area who care deeply about the developmental needs of boys and men. Dr. Michael Gurian and the Gurian Institute will co-sponsor and help you to lead this event.
Renowned marriage and family counselor Michael Gurian (www.michaelgurian.com) began studying the development of boys and men thirty-five years ago. Twenty-five years ago, after publishing THE WONDER OF BOYS, he co-founded the Gurian Institute (www.gurianinstitute.com) in order to facilitate diverse grass-roots support for research and training in male and female development. Dr. Gurian and the Institute team have served more than 60,000 teachers and more than 1,000,000 parents.
Gurian has identified eight key needs in male development that each community must nurture if boys are to succeed in family, school, and life. The Helping Boys Thrive Summit® is a one-day event that can focus awareness and offer transformation on some or all of these key needs:
- protecting the emotional lives of boys,
- mother-son and father-son relationships,
- adolescent rites of passage for boys,
- education and schooling that fits boys’ learning styles,
- character building and character education,
- mentoring systems and male mentoring,
- how faith communities can help boys, and
- preparing boys for workplace success.
Dr. Gurian, Rev. Tim Wright (co-host of the Wonder of Parenting Podcast), and our Gurian Institute team feel certain that you are already working in one or more of these areas. We also believe that you know others who are committed to nurturing young males. We believe that you could provide or form a team to lead a local event that would garner major exposure and serve hundreds of people in one place, in your town. While there is no magic bullet for solving problems faced by males, education and positive change begin with people like you raising awareness and providing evidence- and science-based solutions locally.
Thus, we hope you will sponsor a Helping Boys Thrive Summit®. Should you decide to do so, the Gurian Institute will provide you with a comprehensive template for running the event (based on the more than one hundred events we have run). The template includes:
- A “How to” manual for organization (including outreach to breakout presenters, venue/vendor suggestions, and step-by-step best practices).
- A Donor and Sponsor letter you can modify to approach underwriters to help with the costs of the event.
- Flyer and press release templates, with language and imagery you can use with the press and in advertising.
- Dr. Gurian as the keynoter. Organizers are often able to garner strong media attention for his appearances.
- Rev. Tim Wright as keynoter/breakout presenter as well or a Gurian Certified Master Trainer or regional trainer as breakout presenter on how to help boys thrive in school, from Pre-K through college.
- Phone, Zoom, and online mentoring throughout the preparation and execution of the event.
Please contact Dr. Michael Gurian at michaelgurian@comcast.net, Rev. Tim Wright at tim@boldrecklessgrace.org, and/or our team generally at info@gurianinstitute.com if you are interested in continuing this conversation.
We hope you will join us in taking boys’ work and nurturing to the next level in your community.
Thank you for your consideration, and we look speaking with you.
The Gurian Institute Team