About the Monday Campaigns

The Monday Concept and History

The Monday Campaigns is a public health initiative associated with leading health institutions that seeks to reduce the incidence of preventable diseases by dedicating every Monday to health. Research shows that healthy thinking and behavior are synchronized with the week, with Monday being the day people are most open to positive changes. 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 initiative was founded by Sid Lerner, a former advertising executive, who is dedicated to bringing marketing best practices to public health. Meatless Monday was the first initiative launched in 2003 in association with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, followed by other successful campaigns, addressing smoking cessation, nutrition, physical activity and stress management.

We’ve expanded our network of public health and hospital partners, who provide subject-matter expertise and work with us to apply the Monday concept to a range of populations and settings. These include Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, The Maxwell School at Syracuse University, NYU Langone Health and the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

The Monday movement has grown exponentially in the US and globally and includes individuals, hospitals, schools, businesses, NGOs, governments and whole communities. We support individuals with simple, weekly health practices delivered through our website, social media and e-newsletters, and provide organizations with free resources to start a Monday program, using one or more of our turnkey programs or creating their own using the Monday Refresh concept.

We also collaborate with organizations on a case-by-case basis to conduct research on weekly patterns in health behaviors and develop scalable program models that can be disseminated to broader populations.

We invite individuals and organizations in the US and around the world to join us in improving our health, one Monday at a time. To get more information, contact us.

To learn more about our partnerships with leading institutions, click here.