Founders   History   What is a Glories hat?   Statement of Need   Milestones   GHH in News Read FAQ's		Glories Happy HATS (GHH) Helping Adolescents Through Service GHH is a non-profit organization aimed at strengthening social, human and economic capital in youth while, at the same time, increasing levels of peer- support for hospitalized children. The GHH process establishes positive reciprocal connections between youth (including targeted fragile/underserved youth populations) and the healthcare community through partnerships in support of hospitalized children. GHH powers the formation of a "virtuous circle" as community youth create Glories hats "filled with happy thoughts!" as a symbol of highly-valued peer-support to hospitalized children. Peer-support is shown to have the greatest impact on improving positive outlooks in hospitalized children, and, as we all know, outlook can greatly impact health outcomes. Throughout the process of creating Glories hats, participants build knowledge, skills and abilities in service to sick children as they understand the importance of "Staying healthy to help others!" Participation in the Glories hat-making experiential activities allows youth to recognize hospital appreciation for their role as providers of the psycho-social healing dimensions in the Glories hats. This recognition, in turn, stimulates community awareness and supports four areas of social and economic development: Health Prevention, Awareness and Health Literacy Workforce Readiness and Technology Integration Environmental Stewardship Civic Engagement and Prepared Citizenry GHH is founded on research indicating that youth who form positive bonds with their community are generally less likely to become involved in high-risk behavior. In a highly valued pro-social reciprocal exchange, GHH provides an environment where youth form and enhance positive attachments to their communities while building individual and collective skills for future success. In a social enterprise framework these projects form a strategic and scalable activity based on: A. Empirical analysis of poverty and social participation in disadvantaged populations that shows the value of increasing social, human and economic capital in inner-city, unemployed, disconnected and/or adjudicated youth, and B. Clinical research showing peer-support as having the greatest impact on improving the positive outlook in hospitalized children (positive outlook can impact health outcomes). GHH not only measures the impacts of service on participating youth, it works to measure the positive functional impact this gesture has in the hospital environment. GHH programs are evaluated as a "virtuous circle". Engaging youth in a service opportunity that supports hospitalized children (Hospital evaluation) provides a platform for targeted adolescent health education initiatives. GHH programs work to reduce poor behavioral choices and health disparities which ultimately impact health costs. At the same time, our experience shows that GHH program design acts to stimulate youth to further address individual and collective environmental stewardship, and forges a more focused, competitive, prepared, and problem-solving entrepreneurial workforce. Evaluations of Glories hats in hospital patients ("Wear a Glories hat and think happy thoughts!") show promising impact in the following areas: Increased patient/provider communication, increased patient visibility, improved patient experience/satisfaction, decreased feelings of isolation/anxiety, and increased feelings of individuality. Evaluations of Glories hats in in-hospital settings are designed to determine GHH impact in the following areas: How increased community recognition can improve staff morale, How increases in patient well-being can improve patient cooperativeness and patient flow, How Glories hats can support a culture of communication and safety, and How increases in hospital community profile as role models can incite greater public health engagement. Within the community, as a whole, this "virtuous circle" results in increased accumulated social, economic and human capital. As these capitals increase, so do levels of youth engagement in leadership development activities. Increased levels of leadership activities lead to more learning and scale effects and a new "Virtuous" cycle starts. The GHH programs are designed for local, regional, and national implementation. Get Involved   (Program GHP, HH)           GHH has identified an emerging need (6.3 million hospitalized children in need of peer-support) and constructively designed a significant program delivery model that provides the mechanism for youth involvement to meet product demand while strengthening teamwork, character, leadership and organizational management skills necessary to address the complex set of challenges the future brings. Be a Sponsor.