Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver is proud to partner with the Crown Institute through the University of Colorado Boulder, in implementing an age-appropriate, interactive digital tool called InsideU. Working directly with Pixar Animation Studios, the Crown Institute is taking inspiration from Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out to create InsideU. Developed with input from our Club members, InsideU provides a high-quality experience for kids to learn about emotions.
This collaboration with the Crown Institute aligns with our organizational value of focusing on whole-child wellness. Our emphasis on emotional wellness within the Clubs is already powerful. Club members know and understand the importance of emotions and that Club staff are trusted allies: they are someone to talk to, ask questions of, and feel confident they will receive support. Our collaboration on the creation of InsideU is an incredible extension of the work on emotional wellness we are already doing.
As a collaborative partner, we are assisting the Crown Institute in designing and evaluating InsideU. The voices and feedback of our members are at the forefront of decision-making. Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver’s Mental Health Team also helped the Crown Institute develop a series of companion social-emotional learning (SEL) lesson plans. While the Crown Institute continues developing InsideU, we are already using it to support Club kids across Metro Denver. We are currently conducting a pilot evaluation at all 20 of our Clubs and hope to expand InsideU to Boys & Girls Clubs across the nation.
