Announcing the Next Chapter of Meatless Monday and Healthy Monday with Top Universities and Hospitals

Re-organization ensures the future of beloved global health campaigns and the Monday "fresh start" as the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore launches a new Meatless Monday Resource Center; Healthy Monday is now part of the Lerner Center at Syracuse University; NYU Langone will launch Healthy Monday for Hospitals. 

NEW YORK, March 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Monday Campaigns, a public health initiative that promotes sustainable behavior change by dedicating every Monday to health, announced its next chapter today. The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future launched a dynamic new Meatless Monday online resource center for the public health community, implementers, and advocates, while Healthy Monday will be moved forward by trusted partner institutions.

Founded in 2003 by legendary advertising and marketing innovator Sid Lerner with the launch of Meatless Monday, this marks a new phase of growth for The Monday Campaigns and its flagship programs.

"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."

Center for a Livable Future Launches New Meatless Monday Online Resource Center

Meatless Monday is a global movement that encourages people to reduce meat in their diet for their health and the health of the planet. The campaign was started in 2003 by Sid Lerner, the founder of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Built on the simple idea that skipping meat just one day a week could drive big change, Meatless Monday has grown into a global movement supported by individuals, chefs, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and entire cities. Since its inception, Center for a Livable Future has provided science advisory and technical assistance to the campaign, quantifying impacts, and initiating peer-reviewed research.

Building on this work, the Center for a Livable Future launched a dynamic new online resource center for the public health community, implementers, and advocates. The resource center will house essential and relevant research, tools, and other materials that partners and individuals can use to implement Meatless Monday. Comprised of the most powerful resources from the last decade, augmented by new and emerging materials, including toolkits, multimedia content and research briefs, that will help partners create sustainable, healthy food systems, the new resource center will be inspiring, accessible, and easy to use. 

"High meat diets have been linked to an array of serious public and planetary health threats," said Shawn McKenzie, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. "The new Resource Center will help ensure that the best Meatless Monday materials, tools, and resources continue to be available to everyone who cares about public health, our planet and food systems change." 

Healthy Monday Moves to the Maxwell School's Lerner Center at Syracuse University 

Healthy Monday, launched in 2006, harnesses the power of Monday as a "fresh start" by offering resources for individuals and organizations to adopt healthier habits each week, aiming to reduce the risk of chronic disease. Healthy Monday began as an expansion of the Meatless Monday campaign, working with a range of partners, from universities and workplaces to communities and schools. Through Healthy Monday, individuals and organizations use turnkey program guides or design their own programs to commit to better health every Monday.

The Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health, part of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, will be the new home for Healthy Monday. They'll house digital materials and programming on a newly designed website, initiate a broad campaign through social media, newsletters, and other platforms, implement signature programs that leverage SU's expertise in areas such as veterans' health, and continue to involve students in developing and implementing programming aimed at improving population health. 

"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 wellbeing for themselves and the population as a whole, Healthy Monday has tremendous potential. We're excited to move this important public health initiative forward." 

NYU Langone Launching Healthy Monday for Hospitals

As efforts to scale and expand the "Monday fresh start" concept grow, NYU Langone Health will launch a Healthy Monday for Hospitals initiative, which is designed to develop and disseminate programs tailored to the needs of healthcare workers, patients, and their families. Hospitals and health care providers have long been critical partners in the development of The Monday Campaigns initiatives. NYU Langone will also work closely with key partners, including the Columbia University Irvine Medical Center, that have implemented Healthy Monday wellness programs for healthcare workers and medical residents in need of stress management and relaxation techniques. 

"Hospitals and healthcare systems are unique social and physical environments for health, with enormous potential to encourage healthy, sustainable actions from healthcare workers, patients and their families alike," said Shari Esquenazi-Karonika, Sr. Program Director of the Healthy Mondays for Hospitals program at NYU Langone Health. "Healthy Monday for Hospitals is an exciting effort to ensure good health - and the 'Monday refresh,' radiates out from the hospital community, as a step towards making wellness and self-care accessible to all."

About The Monday Campaigns

Research shows that healthy thinking and behavior are synchronized with the week, with Monday being the day people are most open to positive changes. Across these varied partner institutions, we offer free evidence-based health promotions that leverage this Monday "fresh start" mindset and weekly cue to provide sustainable motivation that can help create life-long healthy habits. 

The campaign's research on Meatless Monday shows that reducing the consumption of red and processed meat and eating more plant-based foods - starting with one day a week - has powerful benefits for health and the environment. Meatless Monday and the Monday movement focus on setting intentions at the beginning of the week and recommitting to them every Monday.

Our academic partners have continued to study the Monday cue, validating its powerful impacts on individual and public health. The Monday Campaigns will continue to work with and aid them as they develop new and impactful partnerships, materials, and resources. Meatless Monday, Healthy Monday, and Healthy Monday for Hospitals can now be found online with increased functionality, resources, and curricula at: 

• Meatless Monday: https://meatlessmonday.publichealth.jhu.edu/ 
• Healthy Monday: https://healthymonday.com/
• Healthy Monday for Hospitals: https://med.nyu.edu/centers-programs/lerner-health-promotion-program/key-initiatives/healthy-mondays.

For more information please contact Dana Smith, dsmith@mondaycampaigns.org

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