Hi, How Are You Project and American Campus Communities Partner to Promote Mental Wellness among College Students across the Nation - Seite 2

Asking a student, “Hi, how are you?” is a simple step to start a conversation about their well-being and let them know someone cares. HHAY Project’s mission is to remove the stigma and open dialogue about mental health. This mission will become a guiding tenet for ACC’s residence life program, which offers events and information that promote topics such as health and wellness, personal finance, and sustainability to name a few. ACC’s student housing communities have served more than 1.25 million students at 120 colleges and universities across the U.S. HHAY Project will develop a series of training videos and supporting materials to teach how to recognize signs of mental distress and offer resources and support for residents and ACC staff. Residents will have access to peer-to-peer support programs, and events related to mental wellness and self-care.

“We hope the Hi, How Are You Project will become an anchor to our residence life program as students’ mental health and wellbeing continues to be core to our values,” said Bill Bayless, American Campus Communities CEO. “ACC was founded in an Austin dorm room at the Dobie Center in 1993, the same year Daniel Johnston painted his mural across the street, with the vision to create communities where students can thrive in college. Over the years, we’ve seen heartbreaking loss at the universities we serve as students weren’t comfortable reaching out for support with mental health issues. We are fiercely committed to doing what we can to help change the statistics. Good mental health and wellbeing is absolutely critical, and our hope is that this partnership will create a framework that raises awareness and creates a culture of open dialogue on campuses across the nation.”

Each year on January 22, the Project hosts a worldwide “Hi, How Are You Day,” an event aimed at educating people around the world about the importance of mental health and well-being while promoting inclusion. The centerpiece of the day is a free live-streaming concert with a roster of acts playing covers of Johnston's music. In 2019, the Hi, How Are You Day concert at ACL Live at the Moody Theater in Austin, TX was headlined by the Flaming Lips with a companion concert taking place in Auckland, NZ.

In July 2018, ACC purchased the Goodall Wooten building, the structure on which Johnston’s mural is painted. The company is in the early conceptual design phase to turn the building into a new student housing community with ground floor retail. There is no definitive timeline for redevelopment, but there is a definitive plan for the mural: it will be preserved in its current state and protected throughout construction. To ensure this protection, ACC worked with the City of Austin’s Historic Preservation Office and the Austin Creative Alliance (ACA), a nonprofit that promotes art in the Austin community.