Cohelian

An Ohio 501(c)(3) public charity for human connection

We gather people back into connection.

Cohelian reduces loneliness and social isolation by strengthening authentic human connection through practical, evidence-informed, and scalable work.

Where we beginWhy this matters
A small group of adults of different ages in conversation around a table in a bright community space

Our mission

To reduce loneliness and social isolation by strengthening authentic human connection through practical, evidence-informed, and scalable interventions.

We are not building artificial companions or digital substitutes for human presence. We build practical ways for real people to form, rebuild, and sustain real relationships. Technology should reduce the barriers to human connection, not replace it.

Presence comes first. Technology serves it.

Two neighbors of different generations talking while tending a shared community garden

Why it matters

A determinant of health, not just a private sorrow.

Loneliness and social isolation are measurable human conditions with measurable consequences. Like other determinants of health, human connection can be studied, strengthened, measured, and improved.

  • Associated with a higher risk of premature death, heart disease, stroke, and dementia.
  • Linked to greater rates of depression, anxiety, and functional decline.
  • Recognized alongside established clinical and public-health risk factors for early death.

Reflecting the 2023 U.S. Surgeon General's advisory and the research of Julianne Holt-Lunstad and others.

How we work

Three expressions of one mission.

Support useful work

We make mission-directed grants to secular and faith-based organizations already sheltering, feeding, accompanying, and reconnecting people at the edge of isolation, rather than duplicating competent work.

Build & test programs

We operate our own programs built around defined populations and defined connection outcomes, then evaluate the results and decide what to expand, revise, or abandon.

Convene partners

We work to bring health systems, universities, faith communities, civic groups, and nonprofits into the same room; a neutral table for work on human connection.

Our approach in practice

We begin with specificity.

Before we design a program, fund a partner, or convene a group, we ask the same question: what specific form of loneliness are we trying to reduce, for whom, and at what scale?

An adult and an older family member preparing food together in a home kitchen
Where we begin

Widowed adults, close to home

Widowhood is common, serious, and reachable; a transition, not a permanent label. Our first program is a structured gathering for widowed adults, beginning locally where we can observe the work and correct course.

A facilitator listening to participants seated in a community group meeting
The name

To gather what has scattered

Cohelian derives from Qohelet, one who gathers or assembles a community. The name points to the work itself: gathering people who have become isolated back into connection.

Researchers reviewing printed notes and data together at a table
How we learn

Stories and data, together

We decide in advance what we are trying to improve and how we will know. Stories show what changed in a life; data shows whether it was real, durable, and repeated. If an idea fails to produce connection, we stop.

Governance

A founding board that belongs together.

Loneliness is not only a clinical concern, not only a private sorrow, and not only a community problem; it crosses all of those boundaries. Our founding board brings the elements Cohelian needs at the start: medicine and systems; story and lived experience; business judgment and community trust.

  • Scott R. Schell, PhD, MD, MBA

    Founder and Board Chair

    A physician-scientist, surgeon, and healthcare executive whose career has focused on the systems that determine whether people receive care and live well. Across medicine, population health, and healthcare operations, he asks the same operational question Cohelian now applies to connection: what must be built, measured, and governed for a human being to benefit?

  • Stephen Burks

    Secretary

    Brings lived experience as a widower and the skills of a filmmaker and storyteller whose work has addressed grief directly. His perspective helps keep Cohelian grounded in the human reality it exists to serve.

  • James Potash

    Treasurer

    Brings the perspective of a long-time family business operator and committed community volunteer. His experience in business, church, youth sports, and local charitable work adds practical judgment and a grounded understanding of how communities sustain one another.

As the organization matures, the board will expand independent governance and recruit directors with judgment, integrity, and relevant expertise. From inception, Cohelian maintains a conflict-of-interest policy, documents major board decisions, separates charitable resources from any founder's commercial activities, and preserves financial transparency appropriate to a public charity.