Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC launched the Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children's Mental Health in February with the goal of preventing childhood and young adult suicides.
The New York-based firm has supported efforts to improve the quality of life for children with a focus on health care for 50 years, but its latest initiative seeks to help children with mental health issues, said Joan E. Steinberg, the chairwoman and president of the $80 million Morgan Stanley Foundation.
"The inspiration for the new alliance was the realization that suicide is the second leading killer of children and is entirely preventable, in contrast to conditions like soft-tissue cancer or congenital disease," Ms. Steinberg said.
"We realized that childhood suicide is a scalable crisis and that it's really important to help charities working in this area get much bigger. Morgan Stanley wants to be catalytic in helping to make this change, not just a grantor," Ms. Steinberg said.
The foundation will distribute a total of $20 million in grants over the next five years to the seven mental health-focused non-profit partners in the Morgan Stanley alliance.
They are the Child Mind Institute, The Jed Foundation, NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, The Steve Fund, Mind HK, Place2Be and Scottish Association for Mental Health.
Ms. Steinberg stressed that youth suicide is such an enormous societal problem that "everyone needs to help with this crisis including parents, schools, colleges and other companies. One company cannot do enough."
More information about the Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children's Mental Health can be found on Morgan Stanley's website.
