Prebys Foundation Launches $1.1 Million Prize to Boost Youth Well-Being in San Diego County

Prize seeks to elicit out of the box ideas from top talent, to help San Diego's youth have a brighter future

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Prebys Foundation, in collaboration with Carrot, proudly announces the launch of Prebys Sparx, a groundbreaking competition aimed at improving youth mental health and well-being across San Diego County. This exciting initiative offers a total of $1.1 million in prizes, including a grand prize of $1 million.

"Our well-being as humans depends far more than our modern world acknowledges on the sense of agency and wonder we discover through nature, the arts and culture," said Grant Oliphant, CEO of the Prebys Foundation. "Prebys Sparx is a call for innovative and bold ideas to help San Diego youth connect with these powerful forces to promote their well-being. Given the extraordinary talent and vision that exist in San Diego County, not to mention the unparalleled natural and artistic environment here, we believe our community can help its young people discover their power and potential through tapping into the natural and creative worlds."

Prebys Sparx seeks innovative solutions that leverage the power of arts, culture, and nature to address mental health challenges among San Diego County's youth. Nonprofit organizations based in or collaborating with local San Diego nonprofits are invited to participate.

Key Dates:

• August 22, 2024: Challenge Launch
• November 7, 2024: Registration Deadline
• December 4, 2024: Application Deadline
• Spring 2025: Winner Announced and Prizes Awarded

Interested organizations can register now until November 7, 2024, at 3:00 PM PST. For more details and to take the readiness quiz, visit prebyssparx.org. For inquiries, contact [email protected].

The Research Behind Prebys Sparx

A growing number of healthcare providers, researchers, and community advocates recognize the importance of not only treating illness but also promoting mental and behavioral well-being through non-clinical experiences in the arts, culture, and nature. Prebys Foundation aims to improve behavioral health and well-being through access to arts, culture, and nature.

‍Recent data supports outdoors as medicine: 

• People living near parks and other "green spaces" have less mental distress.
• There is compelling evidence that time spent in nature can improve the attention capacity of people with attention deficit (and related) disorders. 
• Being outdoors (local beaches and parks, and other natural and recreational areas) can also make us happier and healthier.  

And this data shows arts are a pathway to: 

• Decrease social isolation, forge new friendships, cultivate a sense of belonging and group cohesion, and improve social networks.
• Reduce stress and anxiety by forming a healthy distraction from everyday worries.  
• Boost self-awareness, self-esteem, and a sense of satisfaction. 
• Improvements in quality of life.

The San Diego region is home to a vibrant arts and culture community and great outdoors that offer an abundance of opportunities for healing, inspiration, rejuvenation, and social connection. Taking advantage of these assets, Prebys Foundation launched Prebys Sparx on August 22, 2024. This challenge invites bold ideas and innovative opportunities that employ arts, culture, and/or nature to address growing mental health disparities and promote behavioral well-being among youth ages 0-25 in the San Diego region. Up to four honorable mentions will each receive $25,000 and one grand prize winner will receive $1 million.

Why Use Prize Philanthropy

In recent years, so-called "prize philanthropy," the use of monetary prizes to drive developments that benefit society, has become an increasingly popular form of philanthropy. Perhaps the best known such prize is the XPRIZE, which has spurred competitions to design space vehicles, energy efficient automobiles, oil spill cleanup technologies, home health care devices, and more.

There are many potential benefits of such an approach. As Rockefeller Philanthropy Partners notes in their excellent overview of the benefits and challenges of prize philanthropy, prizes can:

• promote innovation
• broaden awareness of issues and participants in a given issue area
• increase diversity and inclusion in the pool of potential recipients
• build communities and networks
• mobilize additional funding
• help contenders sharpen their focus

Prebys is using this prize competition to encourage talented people to work across disciplines and bring unusual perspectives beyond their areas of expertise. While the foundation does not expect this to become a major component of its work, prizes can encourage talented people to work across disciplines and bring unusual perspectives beyond their areas expertise.

About Prebys Foundation

Prebys Foundation is the largest independent private foundation in San Diego County, a unique tri-national area encompassing communities from San Diego, Tijuana, and the Kumeyaay Nation. The foundation works to create an inclusive, equitable, and dynamic future for all San Diegans. Prebys advances excellence and shared opportunity through investments in groundbreaking institutions, ideas, and people to ensure more people in the region are financially secure, healthy, empowered, and connected. For more information about the Prebys Foundation, visit prebysfdn.org.

About Carrot:

The #1 platform for running prize programs, achievement awards, requests for proposals, and crowdsourcing contests. Carrot helps organizations build competitions that engage new talent and deliver groundbreaking solutions. Whether you're developing technology for a Mars mission or tackling a local healthcare problem, entice the world to solve your toughest challenges.

SOURCE The Conrad Prebys Foundation