THE NEW YORK LIFE FOUNDATION Meeting life’s challenges with life-changing support

Children’s Grief Awareness Month

Children’s Grief Awareness Month (CGAM) is dedicated to raising awareness about the prevalence and the potential impact of the death of a loved one on a young person. Through the collaboration of The National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG), National PTA, National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement, First Book, and The New York Life Foundation, this year’s month-long campaign features a unified approach that focuses on grief support in schools.

Discover our mission

The New York Life Foundation invests in programs that benefit young people, particularly in educational enhancement and childhood bereavement support. We have fostered a culture of volunteerism and community involvement for New York Life’s employees and financial professionals.

They protect our families. So let’s protect theirs.

Those on the front lines of this pandemic are acting on their love to protect families and save lives. In response, the New York Life Foundation partnered with Cigna Foundation to create the Brave of Heart Fund (the Fund) powered by E4E; honoring healthcare workers and volunteers who go to hospitals and medical facilities every day, knowingly putting themselves in harm's way while working with COVID-19 positive patients. The Fund  provides support to families of frontline healthcare works and healthcare volunteers who lost their lives fighting COVID-19.

Honoring those who give so much

The Love Takes Action Awards program enabled New York Life employees and financial professionals to nominate extraordinary individuals serving their communities in response to the pandemic, awarding $1.75M in grants.

Follow Kai’s Journey

Kai’s Journey is a 3-part series about a boy named Kai who, together with his mom, learns how to navigate a profound loss. For every free download of the e-books, the New York Life Foundation will donate $1 to programs that support grieving children.

Our Grief-Sensitive Schools Initiative

When it comes to grief support at school, many educators feel underprepared to help. In fact, according to a recent survey by the New York Life Foundation and American Federation of Teachers, ninety-two percent of educators think that there should be a greater focus on training educators to support grieving students, and ninety-one percent say that they personally would be interested in participating in bereavement training offered through their school or district.

New York Life’s Grief-Sensitive Schools Initiative was created to address the gap in grief support in schools by providing resources and tools for school communities to support grieving students and their families. Any K-12 accredited private or public school and school district can request to be part of this program.