MyVoice isn’t a company. We’re not here to sell your opinions to companies for profit or to make money off your opinions at all. One of the greatest things about the project is that we’re here for you(th), with strong representation of youth (14-24 year olds) on our core MyVoice team. We’re a research project with a mission, not a profit-seeking entity.
But you might wonder, so how can MyVoice afford to pay me $1 every survey week? Where are they getting the money?
One of our key start-up funds came from the University of Michigan’s research innovation incubator called MCubed. MyVoice founder and adolescent health researcher Tammy Chang, MD, MPH, MS, secured a grant through MCubed, which enabled her team to get MyVoice up and running. From a small pool of text-messaging participants, concentrated in Southeast Michigan, to what is now a sample of over 1,700 adolescents from across the United States, sending in thousands of responses each month.
Recently, Dr. Chang and her co-founders, Michelle Moniz, MD, and Kendrin Sonneville, ScD, presented a TED-style talk at the annual MCubed Symposium, held at the University of Michigan. In less than 10 minutes, the three co-founders explain what MyVoice is and what the project hopes to achieve.
Key quote from Dr. Moniz: “Our team sees youth as central to every major health issue in our nation at this time…So now when a policymaker calls about issues affecting young people, we’ll be ready to fulfill research’s potential to inform policies in real time and improve the health of this population.”
You can read an overview of the 2017 Symposium event and see MyVoice highlighted, and learn more about MCubed funding model in this Washington Post write up from 2012.