The Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health is now the home of Healthy Monday, a signature public health campaign that aims to reduce the risk of chronic disease by harnessing the power of Monday as a “fresh start” by offering resources for individuals and organizations to adopt healthier habits each week.
The move is part of a wider reorganization announced by the Lerner Center and The Monday Campaigns.
The Lerner Center, which was established at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 2011 with a gift from alumnus Sidney “Sid” Lerner ’53 and his wife, Helaine, now houses Healthy Monday digital materials and programming on a newly designed website. It will also initiate a broad campaign through social media, newsletters and other platforms, and implement signature programs that leverage Syracuse University’s expertise in health promotion. Students will continue to be involved in developing and implementing programming aimed at improving population health.
The restructuring follows a $2.52 million gift to the Lerner Center and Syracuse University’s Forever Orange Campaign by Helaine Lerner in 2023 and ensures the future of The Monday Campaigns’ beloved global health campaigns. While the Lerner Center will now own Healthy Monday, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore will launch a new Meatless Monday Resource Center. In addition, New York University Langone Health will launch Healthy Monday for Hospitals.
This marks a new phase of growth for The Monday Campaigns and its programs, founded in 2003 by Lerner, an advertising and marketing innovator who died in 2021 at the age of 90. A legend in the advertising business, he helped create the “Please Don’t Squeeze the Charmin” campaign featuring Mr. Whipple for his client, Procter & Gamble. He applied his gift for developing a simple and compelling message to improving public health after a conversation he had with physicians about the need to cut back on dietary saturated fats. His Meatless Monday campaign became a global health phenomenon, reportedly convincing two-thirds of Americans to reduce meat consumption. In 2006, it morphed into the Healthy Monday movement in partnership with universities, workplaces, schools and communities.
“Sid’s original vision was to create initiatives that anyone could pick up and shape for their own institutions and lives, or as Sid said, ‘take my campaign please,’” said Dana Smith, campaign director for The Monday Campaigns. “Twenty-two years later, institutional partners and advocates worldwide have embraced Monday as—also in Sid’s words—‘the day all health breaks loose.’ We’re excited for the next chapter of this movement, anchored to trusted and leading academic partners.”
Through Healthy Monday, individuals and organizations use turnkey program guides or design their own programs to commit to better health every Monday. Research shows that healthy thinking and behavior are synchronized with the week, with Monday being the day people are most open to positive changes.
“Healthy Monday is a dynamic, adaptable campaign that helps people start their week off right,” said Casey Collins, digital specialist for the Lerner Center. “As everyone from students to health professionals look for ways to achieve better health and well-being for themselves and the population as a whole, Healthy Monday has tremendous potential. We’re excited to move this important public health initiative forward.”
Guided by the principles of scientific rigor, equity, justice, community engagement, and multidisciplinary and multi-institution collaboration, the Lerner Center’s mission is to improve population and community health through research, education, outreach and health promotion programming focused on the social, spatial and structural determinants of physical, mental, and behavioral health and health disparities.
Over the past several years, the Lerner Center has launched numerous health promotion programs and community partnerships, including the Monday Mile walking routes developed in partnership with the City of Syracuse, Onondaga County, local hospitals and the Madison County Rural Health Council. In 2019, the Center launched DeStress for Success—a six-week workshop series for undergraduate students that offers evidence-based tools to help students manage their stress and thrive while in college.
