Annual Report

Dear CATCH Supporter,

I hope that you too have discovered the time-saving joy and utility of composing letters with ChatGPT! I mention that not only because it helped me compose the following, but to illustrate a small example of how CATCH Global Foundation is staying current with our times – in pedagogical, organizational, and technological ways.

This report contains a recap of some of the awesome accomplishments of our team and the communities we work with during the 2024-25 school year, which I’ll summarize in alignment with our 4 strategic priorities.

Connecting Mind–Heart–Body

Science shows that wellness behaviors are interrelated, and that outcomes are driven by a holistic approach. CATCH is thus uniquely positioned to connect the mind, heart, and body in school and community wellness.

This year, an important part of our work in this category was to expand our curriculum & training offerings to help educators support their students’ mental well-being. We released new Middle School Health Ed Journeys lessons aligned with mental health education requirements in California and New York, and launched professional development offerings which have so far reached 100 educators in-person and over 1,000 virtually, outpacing our targets. We thank Delta Dental Community Care Foundation, the Moody Foundation, The Meadows Foundation, and others for their invaluable support of this project.

We also continued to expand the reach of our Substance Misuse Prevention program, which includes our acclaimed CATCH My Breath module. Over the past 12 months, the effectiveness of this vaping prevention offering was the subject of four published studies, all of which demonstrated excellent outcomes. CATCH My Breath remains the only program with published evidence of changing behavior to reduce youth vaping.

Driving Systems Change

CATCH not only works at the program level, we help schools, districts, and agencies institutionalize wellness through their policies and systems. This year CATCH was officially adopted at a state level in Idaho, Massachusetts, and Utah, and our Community of Practice (co-delivered with MD Anderson Cancer Center) expanded to the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas with strong success.

In FY25, our model was adopted by many new districts around the country, quadrupling our reach in Massachusetts alone, and CATCH was selected for use in KIPP Texas, which educates over 32,000 students. We have also secured a provisional systems-level award to bring CATCH My Breath to schools throughout another state, which we hope to announce this fall.

Going Global

Internationally, CATCH PE was implemented in 10 schools in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with expansion to 100 planned for 2026 and beyond. We also kicked off CATCH My Breath dissemination and research projects in Canada, Colombia, and Brazil. In the coming year, we expect to launch additional collaborations to bring these vital programs to more underserved parts of the world.

Future-Proofing Our Mission

Just as CATCH supports communities in building infrastructure to sustain their wellness work, we do the same within our own organization. This year we focused on fully implementing our Salesforce CRM system to coordinate communications internally and externally with all of our communities and partners. We also rolled out cybersecurity enhancements, deployed an AI-driven customer service bot on CATCH.org, and reorganized internally to elevate emerging leaders and improve efficiency.

We’ve never been more confident in CATCH’s ability to deliver youth wellness resources, training, and support to communities at scale. With your continued support, we’ll continue to reach more schools and educators, validate our impact through research, and build enduring systems that help children thrive wherever they are.

With gratitude for journeying with us in this mission,

Duncan Van Dusen, MPH
Founder & CEO
CATCH Global Foundation

Dear CATCH Community,

In a year marked by instability and unprecedented change across our nation and civil society, CATCH’s mission has never been more important or urgent. As we witness the challenges facing our young people today, our commitment to building healthier communities and empowering children with the tools for lifelong wellness becomes not just a goal, but an imperative.

Picture a typical school hallway today: nearly 2 out of every 5 students walking those corridors report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. In the bathroom, some are secretly vaping flavored products designed and marketed to hook their developing brains, while others struggle with anxiety that makes it hard to focus in class. This isn’t the adolescence many of us remember. Today’s young people face a convergence of health crises that would have been unimaginable just a generation ago. Where childhood obesity was rare in 1975, it now impacts nearly 1 in 10 young people. Mental health challenges that once flew under the radar now openly affect millions, with suicide tragically becoming the second leading cause of death for teens and young adults. Meanwhile, despite progress in reducing youth vaping, over 1.6 million students still use e-cigarettes, often unaware that each puff is rewiring their brains and potentially setting them up for a lifetime of addiction. This is the reality facing the students who walk into our schools every day-and it’s why our work has never mattered more.

Yet as external forces create turbulence and malaise, CATCH remains stable, resilient, and unwavering in our commitment to youth wellness. Over nearly 40 years, our evidence-based programs have expanded to reach more than 4 million PreK-12 students annually through 16,500 schools and childcare sites. Our proven effectiveness speaks volumes: 21% of schools met National P.E. recommendations for activity time before CATCH training, but 73% met them afterward. Students who complete CATCH My Breath are 46% less likely to try e-cigarettes compared to control schools, and those behavior changes persist three years post-implementation.

As the landscape around us shifts and transforms, we must remain stalwart in our support of the students, educators, community partners, and parents who depend upon us. They look to CATCH not just for programs and resources, but for hope, guidance, and the promise that their children’s futures can be brighter and healthier. We understand that without your health, you don’t have anything-but fortunately for so many students across America, and increasingly the world, they have CATCH. We will have their backs.

This is our moment to demonstrate that comprehensive, evidence-based health education can be the foundation upon which we build a more resilient next generation. Through our Whole Child wellness approach, we’re not just addressing individual health behaviors-we’re creating a movement that transforms entire communities. Our partnerships with organizations ranging from the University of Texas Health Science Center to local YMCAs prove that when we work together, we can create lasting change.

Looking ahead, I am filled with optimism. Yes, the challenges are real and the statistics sobering, but CATCH has always risen to meet the needs of our time. Our programs have evolved from addressing childhood obesity to tackling vaping prevention, from promoting physical activity to supporting mental wellness. This adaptability, combined with our unwavering commitment to evidence-based solutions, positions us uniquely to meet whatever challenges lie ahead.

The work we do today-in classrooms, gymnasiums, cafeterias, and communities across America-is planting seeds for a healthier tomorrow. Every child who learns to make better choices, every educator who gains new tools, every community that embraces wellness is a victory against the statistics that seek to define our young people’s futures.

Together, we are not just changing behaviors; we are changing lives. Together, we are building the foundation for a generation that will be healthier, more resilient, and better equipped to face whatever challenges come their way.

Thank you for being part of the CATCH family. Thank you for believing in the power of prevention, education, and hope.

With gratitude and determination,

Kevin Ryan
Chairman