The Manny’s Band Foundation, Inc. is an Atlanta based non-profit dedicated to creating a paradigm shift in suicide prevention. We are on a mission to dramatically reduce teen suicides by leveraging the power of music, the arts, and other content created by teens to convey information through the media consumed by teens.

Manny’s Band was created by the family of Manny Pargman following his death by suicide as an 18 year old college freshman. Manny was a talented musician, DJ, and lover of music. Through the music, content, and information created in his memory, Manny’s Band seeks to change how parents, families, and friends speak to each other about the risk of suicide.

What sets Manny’s Band Foundation apart:

Beyond Awareness: It’s one thing to be “aware” of a problem, it’s an entirely different thing to accept that the problem affects you and to be compelled to take action in your own life with your own family. Most of us are “aware” that there is a mental health crisis among teenagers and may have even participated in an “awareness event”. However, these efforts often fail to capture the attention and result in changes in personal conversation and actions of most parents and friends who still believe suicide is “not my problem”. Manny’s Band pursues a paradigm shift through popular culture beyond mere awareness that “suicide is a problem” to recognition that “the risk of suicide is not, not my problem.” When a parent or friend makes this personal paradigm shift, then they will take the action that they are “aware of” to reduce the risks of the suicide of their children and friends.

Youth Created Content: There is an abundance of suicide prevention information available; however, much of it is “top down” … information from adults telling kids what they should do … and much of this “misses” its target audience. Manny’s Band supports information and messaging efforts created by the target audience to reach its peers more effectively.

Popular Culture, Music and the Arts: The target audience of teen suicide prevention information is less likely to receive a message from a book or a word-dense website. However, many teens can easily recite music lyrics, copy tik-tok dances, or internalize messaging from online viral media. Manny’s Band supports youth created content conveyed through the music and artistic channels that are important and impactful to the teens so “awareness” turns into real action and meaningful conversation that reduce the risk of suicide in teens.