What Mind Body Awareness Project does

Mind Body Awareness Project (MBA Project Inc.) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2001 and headquartered in Alameda, California. The organization delivers trauma-informed mindfulness training and direct services to three primary verticals: K-12 educators and youth-serving staff in under-resourced schools, incarcerated youth and adults inside the California justice system, and frontline professionals such as first responders, healthcare workers, and correctional officers. Its core product is a ten-module mindfulness curriculum grounded in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), developmental trauma disorder (DTD), Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) frameworks, framed as a Healing-Centered Engagement approach that emphasizes strengths and wholeness rather than pathology. The curriculum was co-created with Jon Kabat-Zinn, George Mumford, Daniel Goleman, and Vinny Ferraro, and is delivered in person inside partner facilities.

MBA operates a hybrid revenue model in which donations and contributions are the primary funding stream (the organization states that 100% of donations go directly to community programs and provides Tax ID 91-2167480), supplemented by fee-for-service professional training contracts on multi-year terms. Go-to-market is community-led and event-driven: customers reach MBA through referrals from county agencies and education offices, submit training applications, and then work with MBA staff through consultation to design customized programs. The organization employs 1-10 staff and reports a cumulative reach of more than 10,000 participants over its 25-year history, with day-to-day operations led by Executive Director Oscar Paul Medina and Clinical Director Micah Anderson.

Strategic relationships anchor the business, including multi-year partnerships with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department (since 2018 on a multi-system pre- and post-release mindfulness project), the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at Sierra Conservation Center, Oakland Unified School District, Santa Clara County Office of Education (via ASAPconnect), and San Mateo County Probation Department. Funders and ecosystem partners include Google and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with founding seed funding from Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh in 2001. The organization has expanded from Bay Area juvenile detention facilities into statewide adult corrections, K-12 education, and frontline professional training, with a 2025 Sierra Conservation Center cohort reporting 100% participant improvement across assessed domains and a 24% gain in trauma healing scores.

Name

Mind Body Awareness Project

Legal name

MBA Project Inc.

Website

https://mbaproject.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Mind Body Awareness Project is a California-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that delivers trauma-informed mindfulness training and direct services to incarcerated youth and adults, K-12 educators, and frontline professionals, using a ten-module curriculum co-created with Jon Kabat-Zinn and George Mumford.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mindfulness Training and Mental Health Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171), Professional and Management Development Training (61143)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Trauma-Informed Mindfulness & Somatic Mind-Body Practices (HSADAJAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Mindfulness-Based Coaching & Training (MBSR/MBCT-style) (HSADAJAB), Guided Meditation Instruction (1:1 & Group) (HSADAJAA)

Keywords

• Trauma-informed mindfulness
• Professional training services
• Correctional rehabilitation
• Mindfulness-based stress reduction
• Social emotional learning

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: The organization operates primarily as a nonprofit funded through donations. The website prominently features a donate button and mentions that 100% of donations go directly to community programs. Tax-ID 91-2167480 is provided for tax-deductible donations.
2. Professional Training Services: Fee-for-service training programs for educators, frontline professionals, and justice system staff. Organizations interested in training submit applications and work with MBA to create customized training plans.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Mind Body Awareness Project delivers trauma-informed mindfulness training programs and direct services to three customer verticals: (1) educators and youth-serving professionals in under-resourced schools, (2) incarcerated youth and adults in juvenile halls, detention facilities, state prisons, and county jails, and (3) frontline professionals including first responders, healthcare workers, correctional officers, and clinicians. The offering is built around a ten-module curriculum co-created with Jon Kabat-Zinn, George Mumford, and Daniel Goleman, and is delivered through direct in-facility service, foundational training, advanced certification, and one-on-one coaching.

Product overview

Mind Body Awareness Project offers a portfolio of trauma-informed mindfulness training programs and direct services organized across three core areas: Education (foundational training, advanced certification, and coaching for educators and school staff), Justice System (direct mindfulness services for incarcerated youth and adults, plus staff training for correctional and probation professionals), and Frontline Professionals (foundational and advanced certification for first responders, healthcare workers, and other professionals in high-stress roles). The organization's offerings are delivered through in-person training, coaching, and direct facilitation inside partner institutions, with a curriculum built around ten core modules developed over 25 years of practice.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Foundational Training for Educators Professional development training for educators, administrators, afterschool staff, and youth-serving professionals to build mindfulness practice, strengthen stress and trauma response capacity, and develop a trauma-informed lens for the classroom. Delivered to K-12 schools and districts in under-resourced California communities.
• Advanced Certification for Educators Certification track for educators and school leaders to bring trauma-informed mindfulness to their broader school community. Includes practicum work and one-on-one coaching from MBA experts.
• Coaching Services for Educators One-on-one coaching with MBA experts available within foundational and advanced certification tracks. Includes standard coaching and feedback/observation coaching for middle managers and leaders in school settings.
• Direct Mindfulness Services for Incarcerated Youth Direct mindfulness services delivered inside juvenile detention facilities combining breathwork, emotional vocabulary, and mindful communication with relational trust-building. Curriculum includes ten modules developed over two decades: Introduction to Mindfulness, Working with Impulses, Basic Goodness, Mindful Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Self-Compassion, Trauma and Core Beliefs, Forgiveness, Empathy, and Belonging and Rites of Passage.
• Direct Mindfulness Services for Incarcerated Adults Mindfulness programming delivered in California state prisons and county jails supporting transformation and reentry preparation through ten core modules including pause-and-respond skills and emotional management.
• Staff Training for Justice System Professionals Training for correctional officers, probation staff, clinicians, court professionals, and law enforcement in trauma-informed practices, stress management, communication, and de-escalation.
• Foundational Training for Frontline Professionals Professional development for staff and leaders in high-stakes professions to build mindfulness practice, strengthen resilience against stress and burnout, and develop trauma-informed lens for service delivery. Targeted at first responders, healthcare workers, correctional officers, probation staff, court professionals, and clinicians.
• Advanced Certification for Frontline Professionals Advanced certification for professionals and leaders to bring trauma-informed mindfulness to their broader workplace community. Includes practicum work and one-on-one coaching for high-stress professional contexts.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% of participants showed measurable improvement across all assessed domains (Sierra Conservation Center 2025 cohort)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and foundational.

• Alameda County Sheriff's DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018In 2018, MBA co-designed a three-year multi-system project with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department and community re-entry partners—the first program of its kind to integrate mindfulness-based mental health services across a pre- and post-release clinical pathway and a community model of impact.
• ASAPconnect (Santa Clara County Office of Education)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to deliver mindfulness training programs to educators and youth-serving professionals in Santa Clara County schools.
• Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with OUSD to provide trauma-informed mindfulness training in Oakland's highest-need schools.
• California Department of Corrections and RehabilitationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to deliver mindfulness programming at Sierra Conservation Center, supporting transformation work with incarcerated adults.
• San Mateo County Probation DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWeekly mindfulness facilitation at San Mateo County Youth Services Center for incarcerated youth.
• Dalai Lama FellowsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerExecutive Director Oscar Paul Medina participated in fellowships with Dalai Lama Fellows, deepening approach to mindfulness, equity, and collective care.
• Jon Kabat-ZinnfoundationalStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction co-created the original curriculum with MBA from the beginning, bringing scientific rigor to mindfulness-based intervention design.
• George MumfordfoundationalStrategic or Co-development PartnerFormer meditation coach for Chicago Bulls and L.A. Lakers, pioneer in teaching mindfulness to gang-involved youth, co-created MBA's curriculum.
• Daniel GolemanfoundationalStrategic or Co-development PartnerAuthor of Emotional Intelligence co-created the original curriculum, contributing expertise in emotional intelligence frameworks.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Liberation Prison Yoga: Nonprofit offering trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness inside prisons and reentry programs. Closely comparable to MBA's justice-system vertical in target population, modality (mind-body practice), and nonprofit funding model.
• Mindful Schools: Oakland-based nonprofit providing K-12 mindfulness training and educator professional development. Directly comparable to MBA's education vertical, and the two organizations are explicitly linked via Chris McKenna, who served as MBA's Executive Director (2009-2012) and now sits on Mindful Schools' program team.
• Prison Mindfulness Institute: National nonprofit dedicated to mindfulness practice in prisons and detention facilities, including resource directories and trainer networks. Overlaps directly with MBA's incarcerated-youth and adult corrections programming.
• Holistic Life Foundation: Baltimore-based nonprofit that teaches mindfulness, yoga, and breathwork to underserved youth, schools, and corrections populations. Closely comparable mission, trauma-informed lens, and underserved-community focus as MBA.
• Lineage Project: New York-based nonprofit offering mindfulness, yoga, and embodiment practices to court-involved and homeless youth. Comparable to MBA's incarcerated-youth and trauma-healing focus, though operating in a different region.
• Center for Mindfulness and Justice: Nonprofit providing mindfulness-based programs for incarcerated individuals and the professionals who work with them. Highly comparable mission, correctional focus, and trauma-informed framing to MBA.
• Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme): Nonprofit running in-depth mindfulness retreats for teens and young adults, with explicit work in juvenile-justice settings. Shares MBA's youth mindfulness and justice-system overlap; Chris McKenna sits on iBme's advisory council.
• Peace in Schools: Portland-based nonprofit bringing mindfulness and contemplative practice into high schools and youth-serving programs. Comparable to MBA's education-sector educator and youth training offerings.

Broad incumbents

• Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute: Well-established nonprofit born from Google's internal mindfulness program, offering professional and leadership mindfulness training to organizations globally. Comparable to MBA's frontline-professional vertical but at a much larger and broader scale.

Emerging players

• Mindfulness Without Borders: Nonprofit delivering mindfulness curricula to youth and the adults who work with them across schools and communities. Adjacent competitor to MBA in mindfulness education programming, particularly in underserved settings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MBAProject
• Facebookfacebook.com/mindbodyawarenessproject
• Instagraminstagram.com/mbaproject

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mind Body Awareness Project