Creating healthy workplace cultures of connection where
employees are valued as
whole people

For far too long workplaces have been

engines of despair,

not wellbeing.

The U.S. is facing a workplace mental health crisis.

84%

of workers said their workplace conditions had contributed to at least one mental health challenge¹

50%

of nonprofits reported stress and burnout as a top reason for staff vacancies²

62%

of the American workforce is considered lonely—97 million workers³

Together, we can make workplaces engines of well-being!

Our mission

Evolving Minds creates a culture of care by advancing healthy organizational cultures in the social sector. Since 2020, our mental health programming has supported hundreds of organizations and thousands of leaders in centering social connection, community, and well-being in their workplaces.

A comprehensive workplace well-being program that prevents burnout and reduces workplace stress by creating a people-first organizational culture.

Through twelve hours of interactive live training delivered over ten sessions with the bulk of the training over a four month timeframe, leaders learn and implement our Connected Cultures model—Five Essential Ingredients for Building Organizational Culture

The Connected Cultures model:

Five Essential Ingredients for Building Organizational Culture

INGREDIENT 1: LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

Normalizing and Supporting Mental Health

A decade ago, mental health was rarely discussed in the workplace. Then the pandemic transformed our relationship with work, ushering in virtual and hybrid workplaces. Alongside these changes in norms and expectations, there is growing demand from employees to support worker well-being. The Surgeon General's Framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-being (seen on the right) gives leaders both a strategic roadmap and common vocabulary to normalize well-being conversations across generational differences and create mentally healthy workplaces.

Download the Framework

INGREDIENT 2: NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY

Engaging Workers in Workplace Decisions

Most workplace surveys collect data but leave leaders wondering what to do with the results. We made it simple by building our survey into our programmatic model. Our survey assesses the Surgeon General's Framework, providing teams with actionable insights to identify strategic priorities for improving workplace mental health outcomes. Unlike standalone surveys where results often sit unused, we review the data live during training sessions with participants, using those insights to create customized workplace culture skills that address an organization's specific growth areas.

INGREDIENT 3: Work Culture Curriculum

Cultivating Trusted Relationships

Working in the social sector and on the frontlines involves unique stressors that can significantly impact employee mental health, making intentional skill-building essential for creating work environments where employees feel genuinely valued and supported. Through our emotional intelligence curriculum—an evidence-based combination of mindfulness and resilience skills—leaders learn practical tools to reduce workplace stress and build the trusting relationships that form the foundation of connected teams.

INGREDIENT 4: Culture-Building Meeting

Fostering Collaboration and Teamwork

Not having enough time is one of the greatest struggles for modern workers, which is why we've designed infrastructure that builds strong team cohesion in just a 20-minute meeting. The Culture-Building Meeting is a recurring, intentional gathering—held weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly—where team members implement and practice our work culture curriculum together. This structured approach is especially critical for hybrid and remote teams, where workers often feel isolated and traditional culture-building has become nearly impossible without intentional systems in place.

INGREDIENT 5: RESILIENCE TEAM

Building a Culture of Gratitude & Recognition

The Resilience Team is a dedicated group of organizational leaders who ensure the continued growth of the Connected Cultures model within the workplace. Rather than letting valuable culture-building initiatives fade after the initial training, the Resilience Team serves as a foundational internal support system, ensuring continuous improvement and expansion of the Connected Cultures practices for years to come so that leaders can continue to build a culture of gratitude and recognition.

A Proven, Evidence-Informed Model

Over the past five years, we've centered worker voices in building our model through a human-centered design process. Connected Cultures was developed and refined across essential and frontline industries—nonprofits, retail, and public education—and is adaptable across sectors. Backed by multiple grants (including the Johns Hopkins Social Innovation Lab), our Connected Cultures model features robust evaluation systems and clear social proof that demonstrates consistent measurable impact.

Model deployments

392

Program graduates

Graduates interviewed

Net Promoter Score (considered great)

11 Impact Stories. 11 Logic Model Outcomes.

Decrease Workplace Stress
“I have so much to do, right? Always so much to do. That was a challenge. I vividly remember one of the Connected Culture trainings. It was right before our annual fundraising event. The energy in the room was like, ‘I can't believe we're taking an hour to do this right now.’ But then afterwards, it was like.... Ahhhhh. Of course. We needed this! We needed that hour in time. I think the hardest part was the resistance when things were really busy to prioritize time and space to be human. But always after the fact, it was worth it.”
Laura Beth, Chief Program Officer
Nurtures Empathy
“It helped me to create space just for myself to be a little bit more authentic. As a black woman, as I was trained up to be a leader, I was always told to put boundaries in place. Some of those boundaries are absolutely necessary. I do think that takes away from being able to build relationships with the rest of the team. I felt like I had great relationships, but this allowed me to go a little bit deeper and create empathy around those relationships that I'm building. Really get to know people beyond the surface.”
Jamila Williams, Director of People Culture and Operations
Improves Retention
“It's an investment in the long run, being able to have these conversations. It’s an investment in the longevity of our culture and how we can all support each other. Doing things like the Connection Circles, when we passed around the ball and we had a Connection Question, people were inspired by other people's answers. It was one of those situations where, ‘they're opening up a bit more. Let me do the same.’ You know?’"
Ramiro Forty, Scholar Advisor
Builds Community
“I think it creates a culture of connectedness, but also saying, ‘we value each other as people and we value the fact that we all have whole selves that we're bringing to work.’ It matters that we take time for shout outs, whether it's gratitude or pride, and it matters that we also make space for if things aren't going so great. I feel like there's always a space to be really vulnerable, once a week at work, which, although that sometimes is challenging, it’s really valuable. Especially if we're all having a rough week or we're all having a great week.
Rachel Greenberg, Director of Program Development
Boosts Job Satisfaction
"I was never one to discuss emotional feelings, especially in the workplace. But after learning Connected Cultures, after participating, now I'm ready for it. I regularly have a genuine interest in it. I feel joy. It’s a big shift I never felt that I needed. That right there was a wide opener for me that we're having this new shift of thinking.

But it was also empowering to know of a space in the workplace that allows you to be vulnerable. I had the background of working before New Futures in a toxic work environment. I was still ingrained in that setting. But knowing different tools, such as the Mindful Pause, purposely having the moment to have a connected space, to get to know fellow co-workers, that has allowed me to not only take advantage of that at New Futures, but also being mindful in my personal life, my daily life."
Amy Eslava, Operations Coordinator
Strengthens Social Connection and Reduces Loneliness
“It's increased our connectivity together. It's increased our understanding of each other's roles, understanding of each other's struggles, shared struggles, and shared mindsets. I don't usually have lunch with my coworkers. Some of them have lunch with each other in the lunchroom, but I usually take lunch in my office. They talk amongst each other, but for me, the only time I talk to them, other than if I need something, is during the Connected Cultures program. For that reason, it has improved our interpersonal relationships.”
Abdul Malik, Human Resources Director
Cultivates Trust and Inclusion
"I feel pretty confident in the fact that we're going to continue this. We already have our Resilience Team. They already have set the schedule for who’s responsible for what skills. It feels really good that we're walking away from this with a plan. My hesitancy was that this was going to just fall on me as Executive Director. And so I think in a really good surprising way, I feel very good about the fact that other people have taken on this leadership. Which feels really awesome."
Lauren Anderson, Executive Director
Promotes Professional Growth and Learning
“My greatest takeaway from the Connected Cultures program is the variety of skills that we learned. The different ways of how you can take a mindful pause. How you can ground yourself.
For example, when my coworker led that drawing exercise. Amazing, really amazing. He just said, ‘Okay, everybody, take 15 minutes to draw something.’ It was so grounding.
And my coworker, he’s our creative person, he is the drawer and everything. He brought his passion into the room and that was fantastic. I really loved it. In fact, I did it with my husband. He was really stressed the other day, and I was like, ‘Hey, here's a pen, here's some paper, just take 15 minutes and just draw whatever comes to your mind,’ and he loved it at the end. He was like, ‘this was so helpful’ and his mood completely changed.”
Rebecca, Head Cheese Maker
Enhances Job Meaning
“It is possible — I'm a part of something that is working, and we're actively doing it. It's not like a dream or an idea that we have: treating each other with more compassion — we actually do it. On Wednesdays, we sit and intentionally talk about how we're doing it, which is really powerful, and I think that's one of my biggest takeaways. It reminded me of what is possible, which sometimes is hard to see because the world can feel hella bleak. It's just been a good, good reminder of, ‘I'm in the right place, we're all in the right place, and we're working towards the same goal.’ Alignment is very important to me and I hadn't felt alignment in a workplace in a really, really long time. So it feels nice to come to work and feel in alignment, but then also go home and still feel in alignment.”
Morgan Butler, Program Manager
Fosters Belonging
“We're more in tune with each other because we know each other more like human beings. People check in and they're like, ‘how was your son's first day in second grade?’ or ‘how's the wedding planning going?’ People check up on each other more. It's just nice to see people as human beings. There are some people on our team who it’s not in their nature to be vulnerable and this has provided them space to, like, settle into that and realize that they can show up to work as their true selves and not put on a mask and not just go through the motions. I think it builds trust. People share things that I don't even think some of us would share with some people we consider close friends.”
Catherine Smith
Expands Social Support
“Somebody complimented my coworker's shoes. And the other day, one coworker gave another an awesome shoutout for being there and being their personal cheerleader. They got a shoutout too for a similar thing–being really supportive. When one person starts sharing, it definitely triggers other people to go along that path, which is always cool to see. I’ve definitely seen some awesome interactions between coworkers. When that happens, it lights them up, which is awesome.”
Clara Sparks, Manager

Reduce and prevent burnout

that is costing organizations tens of thousands of dollars in operational expenses

LONG TERM IMPACT

Cost savings for organization and employees from:

Reduced turnover rates
Decreased absenteeism
Lower healthcare utilization
Improved productivity & engagement

Our Vision:

Healthy workplace cultures of connection where employees are valued as whole people

For funders

Invest in grantee well-being.

With over 50% of nonprofits experiencing severe burnout, maximize your grant impact by deploying our model with individual grantees, across your grantee network, or through cohort models where leaders from multiple organizations participate together—ensuring funding investments create healthier, more sustainable organizations. Contact us today to learn how Connected Cultures can make your grant dollars go so much farther.

For organizations

Bring Connected Cultures to your workplace.

According to the American Psychological Association, 92% of workers said it is important to them to work for an organization that values their emotional and mental well-being. Ready to transform your workplace culture? Schedule your free 20-minute strategy session today. Our team will show you exactly how Connected Cultures can address your organization's specific challenges and create real culture change.

For organizations

Bring Connected Cultures to your workplace.

Whether you're leading a team or managing staff burnout, we offer a clear, research-backed path forward. Our program equips your people with tools to reduce stress, build trust, and create the kind of culture everyone wants to be part of.

A project by Evolving Minds

Evolving Minds creates a culture of care by advancing healthy organizational cultures in the social sector. Since 2020, our mental health programming has supported organizations and leaders in centering social connection, community, and well-being in their workplaces.

Our Partners

This website was designed by B'More Designful in collaboration with Evolving Minds, as part of the Connected Cultures initiative supported by the Johns Hopkins Social Innovation Lab accelerator program.