2026 Year-End Giving Campaign
How Does a Child Go From a Classroom to a Courtroom?
This December, help us reach more young people with the right tools and support they deserve to build a bright future.
Help Us Disrupt The School To Prision Pipeline
Keep Kids in Classrooms, Not Courtrooms.
Every child deserves the chance to learn, make mistakes, and grow. Yet for too many young people, school discipline can become the beginning of a path away from education and toward the justice system.
For over 20 years, Niroga Institute has worked to help interrupt that path through trauma-informed Dynamic Mindfulness (DMind), bringing practical skills for self-regulation, resilience, and learning to children and youth.
The Cost of Missed Opportunities
The School-To-Prison Pipeline Is Real. So Are the Consequences.
Behind every number is a young person whose opportunities, relationships, and education matter. These statistics reflect different challenges, but together they point to an urgent need for stronger support systems.
School Referrals to Law Enforcement
Approximately 61,900 students were referred to law enforcement by U.S. public schools during the 2020–21 school year.
Youth in Residential Placement
Approximately 29,300 young people were held in juvenile residential placement facilities in 2023.
Chronic School Absenteeism
An estimated 23.5% of U.S. public school students were chronically absent during the 2023–24 school year.
Understanding the School-to-Prison Pipeline
What Happens When We Respond to Struggle With Punishment?
The school-to-prison pipeline describes the policies and practices that push students out of educational environments and increase their risk of involvement with the justice system.
These consequences fall disproportionately on students from historically marginalized communities.
During the 2020–21 school year, Black students represented 15% of public school enrollment but accounted for 22% of school-related arrests.
Students deserve access to support that recognizes the role of stress, trauma, and unmet needs in developing accountability, safety, and opportunities to learn.
A Different Approach
We Need More Skills, Not Just Consequences.
Dynamic Mindfulness (DMind) combines mindful movement, breathing techniques, and centered awareness to help children and youth strengthen attention, manage stress, and build greater awareness of their thoughts, emotions, and actions.
These practices can become part of everyday routines, supporting young people as they navigate challenges in classrooms, at home, and in their communities.
DMind does not replace systemic reform, mental health care, or other essential supports. It contributes something practical: helping develop Executive Function skills that young people and the adults around them can learn, practice, and carry forward.
Self-Regulation Is Learned. Let's Help Teach It.
Why Developing Executive Functions Matter
The ability to focus, pause before reacting, shift between tasks, and make decisions depends partly on executive functions, a set of cognitive skills that continue developing throughout childhood and adolescence.
These skills influence how young people learn, respond to challenges, and navigate everyday life. They can be strengthened through supportive experiences and practice.
Research also suggests that mindful movement can support cognitive functioning in children and adolescents, including aspects of executive functioning.
The opportunity is not to demand that young people always respond perfectly. It is to give them more opportunities to develop the skills they need.
"Movement-Based mindfulness is by far the best tool for improving and developing Executive Functions."
- Professor Adele Diamond, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscientist
Help Put Dynamic Mindfulness Where It's Needed
Help Put Practical Support Within Reach
Your contribution, whatever it might be, supports Niroga's efforts to make trauma-informed mindfulness available to more young people and the adults who serve them. Here’s an example of the reach this support has:
Sponsors Training Access For An Educator
Support access to DMind training and ongoing resources that help adults bring practical self-regulation tools into their work with children and youth.
Develops Student Leadership in Schools
Help expand opportunities for young people to strengthen their own practice, lead their peers, and contribute positively to their schools and communities.
Makes Everyday Practice More Accessible
Support curriculum materials, coaching, and digital resources that help people use Dynamic Mindfulness beyond individual training sessions.
Builds Sustainable Program Capacity
Contribute to the tools and infrastructure needed for schools and organizations to continue using and sharing practices over time.
Every contribution helps us work toward a world where more young people can develop the skills, confidence, and agency to shape their lives.
This December, you can help us expand the reach of Dynamic Mindfulness and create more opportunities for young people to learn, grow, and thrive.
More Than Good Intentions
What Does the Research Tell Us?
Niroga's Transformative Life Skills (TLS) program has been evaluated in peer-reviewed research. In a randomized controlled trial involving 159 students, researchers found that participants receiving TLS demonstrated:
- Fewer unexcused absences.
- Fewer detentions.
- Greater school engagement.
- Improvements in several stress-coping skills, including emotion regulation and positive thinking.
A separate pilot study involving 49 students in alternative education found reductions in reported anxiety, psychological distress, and hostility, along with lower endorsement of revenge-motivated responses to interpersonal conflict.
These findings show the potential of movement-based mindfulness to support aspects of student well-being and school participation.
For Niroga, research provides a foundation for bringing practical, trauma-informed tools into the places young people need them.
When Students Become the Teachers
At Willard Middle School, five 7th and 8th graders led approximately 50 school staff members through Dynamic Mindfulness practices, demonstrating the confidence and skills to support themselves and others.
“I was nervous to teach, but I used the practice for myself to help with the nerves.”
- 8th Grade Student Ambassador, Berkeley
From Reluctance to Leadership
During a Youth Peer Leadership session in a juvenile hall, one young person initially declined to participate. Given the freedom to choose, he later surprised the group by voluntarily leading a movement and breathing practice.
Sometimes, the opportunity to lead begins with being given a choice.
A Practice They Can Carry Anywhere
At Downtown High School, ten student leaders completed DMind training and began guiding weekly practices with their peers.
“If I practice when I'm calm, the practice will be available when I really need it.”
- 12th Grade Student, San Francisco
One Training. More People Reached.
Across Niroga's partner schools, educators are bringing DMind into staff meetings, family workshops, and everyday student interactions.
“I've implemented DMind in my leadership weekly meeting. It is now the first agenda item and helps me practice.”
- District Leader, Desert Sands Unified School District
The Impact of Your Support in 2026
Nearly 300 Educators Trained. Tools They Can Use Immediately.
Between December 2025 and October 2026, Niroga trained nearly 300 educators and school staff across five partner districts and sites. Of the 255 participants who completed post-training surveys:
Said they could apply new tools in their personal lives and work with students.
Reported increasing their knowledge and skills, encouraging autonomous practice.
Were satisfied with how applicable the content was to their lives and school environments.
The most encouraging finding isn't simply that participants valued the training. It's that they left with practices they felt ready to use.
When a practice is simple enough to use immediately, it has a better chance of becoming part of everyday life.
Your Year-End Gift Matters
Their Future Is More Than Their Most Difficult Moment
A moment of frustration shouldn't define a student's potential. A difficult school experience shouldn't close the door to learning. And involvement with the justice system shouldn't erase a young person's capacity to grow, lead, or contribute to their community. For more than 20 years, Niroga Institute has worked alongside young people, educators, and youth-serving professionals to make practical mindfulness skills more accessible.
We've watched students become teachers, educators bring practices into their communities, and young people discover their own capacity to lead.
There is more work ahead. And we cannot do it alone.
This December, help us expand the reach of Dynamic Mindfulness and create more opportunities for young people to learn, grow, and thrive.