As a TFA Alum, and High School African American Literature Teacher on Chicago’s South Side, Reed saw how stress and ongoing trauma caused by systemic racism and educational inequities impacted his students. He launched ProjectHEAL Inc. in 2017 in response to the need for school staff, students, and families to discuss how trauma impacts student learning and teacher well-being, and to collectively identify healthy, culturally relevant coping mechanisms necessary to navigate and transcend the mental scarring that trauma can inflict. ProjectHEAL’s programming was tested and yielded successful results, following program implementation in Las Vegas, Nevada–in partnership with Teach For America Las Vegas, in the aftermath of the October 1 mass shooting. In seven years Reed established more than 80 partnerships with universities, community-based organisations, and public and charter schools in more than 18 states, reached 5000+ education leaders through trauma-informed professional development, impacted more than 250,000 students, and launched the Meditation & Calming Center for Elementary School students in Las Vegas. During the Covid quarantine season, Reed partnered with Temple Media, a Los Angeles Live Streaming Company, to launch and continue ProjectHEAL’s trauma-informed education TV-show, reaching more than 5,000 viewers per episode. In 2021 alone, Johnny Reed raised more than $400,000 to launch partnerships with new organisations and continue the Trauma-Informed Education for school leaders, school staff, parents and caregivers, alongside Mental Health Education for students–in Chicago and nationwide. To date, Reed has raised $1.6M in the name of Trauma-informed education for adults and mental health education for students nationwide. Now, Johnny Reed has joined the Teach For America National Team with the ultimate goal of collaborating with all teams as the MD, Wellness and Social Emotional Learning to increase access to culturally relevant wellness programming for Corps Members and TFA staff.