2025 YEAR IN REVIEW
Building resilience, connection, and care β together.
In 2025, Community Mindfulness Project deepened our commitment to bringing evidence-based, community-rooted mindfulness to under-resourced communities across Fairfield County β responding to loneliness, chronic stress, burnout, and disconnection, with presence, compassion, and sustainability.
In 2025 we set the pace with purpose, depth and deeper understanding as our north star.
We prioritized taking care of our most vulnerable neighbors β showing up consistently, listening deeply, and building practical tools for resilience that can be accessed swiftly and can actually be integrated into daily life.
A Letter from Our Executive Director
2025 was a year of grounding.
After a period of rapid growth, we made intentional choices to slow down, listen more closely, and focus on depth over breadth. Across Bridgeport, Stamford, and Norwalk, we witnessed firsthand how loneliness, burnout, trauma, and systemic instability are showing up in classrooms, recovery programs, nonprofits, and households, and how profoundly people need spaces to breathe, connect, and rebuild trust in themselves and one another.
Mindfulness, when practiced shoulder-to-shoulder in community, is not a luxury. It is a practical, science-backed skill for emotional regulation, stress management, and resilience. In 2025, with your support, CMP shifted decisively toward multi-week, proficiency-building programs that allow participants to move beyond introduction into integration.
There were moments of real challenge this year, partnerships disrupted by institutional instability, systems beyond our control, and the emotional weight carried by the communities we serve. And yet, again and again, we saw that greater health, feelings of hope and sustainable healing are possible when people are given time, consistent compassion, and care.
I am deeply grateful to our staff, facilitators, participants, partners, board, and donors for walking alongside us. This Year in Review reflects not just what we delivered, but what we learned, what we held, and what we are building toward.
With gratitude,
Ella Crivello
Executive Director
β
Mindfulness is not about escaping life β itβs about arriving fully into it, with compassion, presence, and the courage to connect with ourselves and each other.β
β JaTorra Commodore, CMP Facilitator
Why Mindfulness Matters
Community Mindfulness Project delivers programs that support those in need with practical, science-based programs that develop skills for regulate stress, build emotional resilience, and deeper connections with themselves and others β especially in environments shaped by chronic pressure, trauma, and uncertainty.
Research in neuroscience and psychology consistently shows that trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices can:
reduce chronic stress and nervous system overactivation
improve emotional regulation and attention
strengthen resilience, compassion, and connection
support recovery, learning, and well-being over time
But science alone is not enough.
Mindfulness only becomes truly effective when it is accessible, repeated, and relational. That is why CMP focuses on bringing mindfulness out of systemically privileged settings and into the everyday spaces where people already live, work, and learn, creating space to find peace and connection with less discomfort.
Our Community-Rooted Approach
CMP meets the needs of the community by working outside of traditional systems addressing two intersecting public-health challenges:
The loneliness epidemic β growing isolation, disconnection, and erosion of social trust
The chronic stress epidemic β bodies and minds under constant activation without tools for regulation
Our programs are designed to meet people where they are β emotionally, culturally, and logistically. We combine:
clear, science-informed programs
guided practice that builds skill over time
shared reflection and social connection
This structure allows mindfulness to move from a momentary experience into a usable life skill.
What Makes CMP Different
We practice shoulder-to-shoulder.
Mindfulness is offered in community, not through an app or device β reducing stigma and strengthening belonging.
We prioritize consistency over exposure.
Multi-week courses and continuity programs support proficiency, allowing participants to integrate practices into daily life and feel less alone on the hard days.
We work where need is greatest.
CMP partners with schools, recovery programs, nonprofits, public libraries, workforce programs, and community organizations serving our most under-resourced neighbors.
We hold credibility and care together.
Our work is grounded in neuroscience, trauma-informed principles, and cultural responsiveness β delivered with humility, curiosity, and respect for all who join each program.
The Result
Participants consistently report feeling:
Better able to manage stress and overwhelm
More grounded and emotionally regulated
Community Mindfulness Projectβs programs in 2025 provided ongoing, community-based mindfulness as a foundation for dignity, resilience, and hope.
More confident using mindfulness tools in daily life
More connected to themselves and others
2025 Grounded in Research,
Driven by Impact
For over 11 years, Community Mindfulness Project has sat shoulder to shoulder in our local communities, fostering connection and sharing long lasting tools to support physical and mental health.
In 2025, programs reached the most vulnerable individuals facing unprecedented levels of burnout, trauma and loneliness including educators, frontline workers, those impacted by gun violence, young parents, those in recovery, immigrants and first-generation college students.
513
programs delivered
85%
training or resilience proficiency building offerings
30
trusted partners across education, recovery, workforce development, and community health
63%
average reported increase in comfortable emotions (ie. hopeful, peaceful, safe)
3
priority cities: Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk
37%
average reported decrease in uncomfortable emotions (ie. worried, exhausted, pessimistic)
What makes our programs special isnβt an app or a recordingβitβs real people, practicing together. The conversations, the shared silence, the humanity, thatβs where the magic lives.β
β
- Julia Hepfer, CMP Program Director
2025 Meditation Highlights
What Changed in 2025
From Broad Access
to Targeted Proficiency
Introduced clear program categories and enhanced quality standards
Increased multi-week courses and continuity programs
Launched certificates of completion for multi week courses
Expanded wrap-around materials and at-home guidance, for deeper understanding and awareness
Growth this year was focused, deliberate, and authentic to our core mission.
Stronger Systems,
Stronger Care
Expanded facilitator team and year-round training and professional development
Improved evaluation, data collection, and reporting
Strengthened internal operations to support sustainable growth
βWhen I found CMP, I knew almost instantly that I was home.β
β Sara Baio, CMP Facilitator
Stress can spread quickly
γ°οΈ
but so can resilience.
Stress can spread quickly γ°οΈ but so can resilience.
A consistent, trusted presence for vulnerable neighbors
Fairfield Countyβs immigrant population is substantial and includes many residents navigating language access barriers that can limit employment options, service navigation, and healthcare accessβkey drivers of low-income vulnerability. DataHaven reports that 22% of Fairfield County residents (about 213,548 people) are foreign-born, and 12% of residents age 5+ have limited English proficiency. (DataHaven, 2023)
CMPβs strategy of delivering mindfulness through trusted community sites and partners helps reduce barriers to participation (transportation, cost, stigma, and unfamiliar systems) and supports newcomers and immigrant families and the staff on the frontlines serving them in building coping tools for chronic unhealthy stress, isolation, and the practical pressures of establishing stability.
Shoulder-to-Shoulder: Stories from Our Participants & Partners
Recovery & Relapse Prevention
In a Families in Recovery program, a woman paused at the end of a session and quietly said, βOh my God.β The words came with a deep exhale β and then an insight. She hadnβt realized how much she had been clenching her body until that moment. For the first time in a long while, she felt real ease.
Mindfulness offers people in recovery practical tools for managing triggers, emotions, and the stress that can fuel relapse. Again and again, participants tell us these moments of embodied awareness are not abstract β they are lifelines.
Learning Under Pressure
At Bridgeportβs Mercy Learning Center a student became visibly overwhelmed during academic testing. Instead of shutting down or leaving, she paused. She practiced mindful breathing β something she had learned through CMP sessions β until her body settled. She returned to her test, completed it, and ultimately improved her score by nine points.
It was a quiet moment, but a powerful one: mindfulness showing up in real time, supporting regulation, confidence, and follow-through.
Reentry, Power & Dignity
During a program supporting individuals transitioning home after incarceration, one woman shared that she felt broken, scared, and powerless. The group held her story with care. Our facilitator offered a simple reframing: mindful awareness β recognizing what we can and cannot control β is itself an act of reclaiming power.
What followed was not fixing or advice, but presence. A moment of dignity. A reminder that respect and practical tools are essential for people navigating reentry, fear, and systemic instability.
Burnout, Empathy Fatigue & Belonging
In a circle of nonprofit frontline workers in Stamford, the exhaustion in the room was palpable. Slowly, people began to speak:
βWe are all exhausted and struggle with empathy fatigue.β
βI feel so much more relaxed now β my body feels at ease.β
βThis was so great. We all need it.β
Engaged participants consistently remind us that what matters most isnβt just the meditation β itβs the shared experience.
βThe most useful thing is sharing the experience with others and meeting others.β
2025 Partner Reflections
Liberation Programs
βYou have to reach the deeper part of the brain, the amygdala, so your world feels safe. I donβt think thereβs anything more effective than mindfulness to get thereβ¦
...People are looking for solutions. Since COVID, disconnection and loneliness have been universal. Your work builds hope.β
β John Hamilton, LMFT, LADC,
President & CEO, Liberation Programs
Community Colleges & Adult Education
βThis is the wave of the future, meditation and mindfulness integrated into the classroom and curricula. Itβs happening.β
- Lynn Stephens, Director of Adult Education,
Bridgeport Public Schools
Career Resources
βThe transparency in these groups is powerfulβthereβs so much that needs to come out. As she shared her story, you could feel compassion in the room. The judgment fell away. Everyone realized: we all have a story.β
β Kim Harris, Senior VP of Reentry Affairs
Career Resources
Navigating Challenges with Integrity
2025 also surfaced hard truths.
Institutional instability β particularly in traditional school and social service provider systems β disrupted promising pilots despite deep buy-in and preparation. These moments reinforced key learnings:
Impact requires flexibility, not rigidity
Community-based settings outside traditional institutions are often better positioned for consistency
Relationship-building and trust are as critical to outcomes as curriculum
Rather than retreat, CMP adapted β strengthening partnerships to meet high needs where readiness and alignment were strongest.
βI believe we are all capable of our own healing β and that with the right containers and guidance, people can discover their own path toward wholeness.β
βChris Blais, CMP Facilitator
Presence, Made Possible
The Ripple Effect of this work is sustained by the Community Care and generosity of:
Individual donors and supporters
Family and community foundations
Institutional and program partners
Board leadership and advisors
Members of the new Recurring Giving Program, The Circle
By giving monthly, donors are not just funding programs, they're fueling a movement.
One that says to our team, "keep going, we trust in your strategy and your instinct to meet the needs of our community." One that says they wholeheartedly agree that everyone deserves the access and space to learn skills to breathe deeply, heal fully, and live freely.
Looking ahead: 2026
In 2026, CMP will build on this foundation by:
Expanding to 600 programs with more in person, more outdoors and more reported resilience built
Deepening partnerships with community-based nonprofit organizations
Refining outcome measurement to understand how we serve the greatest needs and expand effectively
Growing sustainable funding and earned revenue to weather unexpected storms
Our vision is clear: to be Fairfield Countyβs trusted partner for accessible, culturally responsive mindfulness β at a scale that lasts.
