MDR Named Top 3 Youth Leadership Company in the U.S.

Hi Reader,

THANK YOU!

As the spirit of Giving Tuesday extends into a week of generosity, we're celebrating what our community made possible this year...

Looking back on this year, I want to pause and say thank you for everything you’ve poured into Media Done Responsibly. Your belief in our young people… your belief in our mission… your belief in a kinder, more human digital world. It all matters.

And what a year it has been.

✨ MDR’s Founder and CEO, Shaunelle Curry, was inducted into the California Black Women’s Hall of Fame, receiving a generous contribution by the California Black Women's Collective Empowerment Institute to uplift Black girls.

✨ We launched our interactive MDR Resource Hub & Innovation Lab—and nearly 200 students have begun testing it.

✨ And today, we are humbled to announce that MDR has been named a Top 3 Youth Leadership Company in the United States by F6S, one of the world’s largest innovation networks with over 2 million members.

This recognition belongs to the community that continues to lift us.

You.

As a Black woman–founded organization, MDR receives 77% less in unrestricted funding than our peer organizations—even while demand for our work grows. And with the current attacks on diverse leaders and community-based nonprofits, these resources are more threatened than ever.

Yet we rise.
Because you rise with us.

Your support makes it possible for young people battling anxiety, doom-scrolling, burnout, comparison, misrepresentation, cyberbullying, and online grooming risks to have a safe digital space—a place to pause, breathe, check in, and reconnect with themselves and each other.

And they feel it.
Deeply.

During U.S. Media Literacy Week, we opened the Kindness In Connection portal of MDR's Hub to an expanded number of founding participants, and early feedback results were inspiring.

A couple of student testimonials...

Youth Feedback Response from Desiree V.:

This impact is made possible because of your contributions.

GIVING WEEK

This Giving Week, we invite you to stand with us again.

If you're an MDR alumnus who has been positively impacted and can now pay it forward, if you're an educator or youth leadership administrator who has worked with us in the past or hopes to work with us in the future, if you're a previous donor or sponsor or friend of the program, or even if you're a new member to our community, this is our ask.

✨ Support youth who deserve digital spaces that heal, not harm.
✨ Support a Black woman–founded organization that continues to innovate despite systemic funding inequities.
✨ Support the next generation of creators, leaders, and innovators building a more humane digital world.

Each dollar counts more than you can imagine. Nothing is taken for granted. It all MULTIPLIES to make this impact on human lives possible.

👉 Give today: MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION​
👉 Become a monthly member: MDR Resource Hub​
👉 Sponsor a student: STUDENT SPONSOR​

Thank you for being part of MDR’s story.

We promise to keep building a world where young people—and their wellbeing—come first.

In Service & Community,

Shaunelle & the MDR Team