BOOST MENTAL HEALTH FOR 3MIL KIDS IN 180 COUNTRIES

Hi Friends,

Since our last update, POP-UP Festival has continued to grow as a powerful way to support children’s emotional wellbeing by bringing entire communities together around emotional intelligence, kindness, and connection.

One standout example comes from Dubuque, Iowa, where a Kindness POP-UP Festival became a city-wide experience. Through a partnership with Six Seconds, the University of Dubuque, and the City of Dubuque, student and city volunteers worked side by side to bring emotional intelligence to life for 1,000 participants, including every second grader in the city and local college students.

Held outdoors on a bright, joyful day, the festival invited children to explore emotions through playful, hands-on activities designed to build emotional literacy, empathy, and positive connection. Undergraduate students and community volunteers stepped into leadership roles, modeling emotional intelligence in action while creating a welcoming environment where young learners could feel seen, heard, and supported.

Beyond the immediate experience, the Dubuque POP-UP Festival demonstrated what’s possible when emotional intelligence becomes a shared community practice. By engaging schools, higher education, and local government together, this project showed how simple, human EQ tools can strengthen relationships and foster a culture of care across an entire city.

With each POP-UP Festival, we continue to see how emotional intelligence creates ripple effects, supporting wellbeing, connection, and resilience far beyond a single event.

Thank you for making this work possible. Your generosity helps communities like Dubuque bring emotional intelligence to life for children and families, one joyful interaction at a time.

With gratitude,
Patty

Dear Friend,

You subscribed to email updates from Engage 1B People Practicing Emotional Intelligence by Six Seconds, a project on GlobalGiving. Here's your latest update:

At Six Seconds, we believe emotional intelligence is not just a personal skill, but a global necessity. That’s why we created POP-UP Festival — a free, play-based learning experience designed to help children (and their grownups) practice emotional awareness, empathy, and mental wellbeing.

We want to support more people to develop inner skills, so they can strengthen relationships — and those connections ripple outward into healthier communities.

This September, we’re sharing a few highlights from the movement you’re helping to grow.

 Singapore: A Stadium of Learning

At the Singapore National Stadium, 4,200 people attended Singapore Children's Society’s annual walk and fundraiser. Our POP-UP booth was busy! Giving families a chance to play, reflect, and talk about feelings in simple, meaningful ways. Activities focused on emotional literacy and resilience, both kids and adults alike played with POP-UP  to navigate stress and talk about emotional wellbeing together.

Colombia: Two Days of Healing

In Riohacha, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, POP-UP reached 420 students and teachers across two days. The team wrote:

“Seeing children and youth express themselves with freedom and tenderness, and adults reflecting on their role, reminded us of the power of this movement.”

 POP-UP opened a space for shared emotional expression, often rare in formal school settings — and planted seeds of connection that will continue to grow.

Japan: Emotional Literacy + Human Rights

In Japan, a POP-UP host is expanding the use of our tools — leading teacher workshops on EQ and human rights education. Using our Emomonster cards, she’s helping educators integrate emotional skills into their practice with younger students. This work bridges the inner world of emotions with the outer work of justice and dignity — a core goal of POP-UP.

USA: Blooming Kindness

In Los Angeles,  Inclusion Matters added POP-UP Festival to it  28th annual Run, Walk & Roll at Griffith Park in LA With over 600 participants and 150 volunteers, our activities will support inclusive families and multilingual communities, with resources in English and Spanish.  We’re especially excited to share “Blooming Kindness”, a hands-on activity that invites children to name and grow everyday acts of kindness at home and in their schools.

We're so glad you are a part of this movment! 
Every POP-UP Festival happens because of people like you — volunteers, teachers, donors — who believe that wellbeing can be taught. That play and emotions matter. That global change starts with local action.

Thank you for helping us bring emotional intelligence to life for more children, more families, and more communities.

With appreciation,
Patty
Global VP, Social Impact
Six Seconds

Links:

• Join free POP-UP Festival and share wellbeing with your kids!