Youth Development

Hope’s Youth Development Programming

Hope Communities provides youth development programming that aims to benefit children cognitively, socially, physically, and emotionally. It is imperative that youth feel safe and bond with our staff, build healthy relationships and establish trusted community connections. Our youngest residents (along with their parents) are invited to take advantage of a program aimed to prepare families for kindergarten. To support school-aged academic achievement, after-school homework help is offered for children to focus on their daily homework assignments. Group activities, field trips and presentations are provided to strengthen personal and social relationships, teach critical thinking skills and provide opportunity for youth to develop healthy food and lifestyle choices. Several clubs also serve to mentor youth. Additional enrichment opportunities are offered while students are out of school, such as an overnight camp during the summer and a winter break extravaganza.

For the Love of Reading—Videos for Kids

For the Love of Reading is a signature program of Hope Communities to foster strong literacy development for youth, while at the same time helping parents as they struggle to provide academic and youth enrichment programs while home-schooling during the pandemic. Initiated by Hope’s Board of Directors, the program has grown to include volunteer readers from throughout the community.
Click to see the videos.

After-school Educational Enrichment Programs (EEP)

Occurring after school and during school breaks, this program helps children gain essential skills leading to academic success, greater self-confidence, healthy bodies, and strong relationships. Programs focus on supporting youth with academic achievement and remediating gaps through homework assistance and ongoing tutoring. Our out-of-school break programs include structured on-site activities, field trips and community engagement opportunities designed to broaden horizons, promote healthy peer relationships, and expose our youth to community organizations.

Girls’ Empowerment Group

This weekly youth engagement and leadership program was specifically requested by and is for refugee adolescent girls at our East Colfax property, Hidden Brook. These young women often face extraordinary challenges related to American social nuances, bridging practices and norms that honor their parents’ cultural expectations while pursuing their own needs, and attempting to integrate fully into the community. Additional factors such as prejudice and poverty aid in diminishing feelings of self-identity and self-worth and can inhibit their pathway to success. This program focuses on leadership development, career/education planning, social/emotional learning and stress management with the goal of building confident young women who understand their value both to society and themselves.

BOYZ in the Gardens

This weekly program (named by participants) supports the needs of young male teens and pre-teens with a focus on leadership development, career/education planning, social/emotional learning, gang avoidance and stress management. The group is led by a community volunteer with lived experience who develops programs and provides trusted mentorship. The BOYZ group is designed to help participants address the many stressors and challenges in their lives to combat gang influences, build positive adult relationships and lead these young men to greater success.