We know that no matter where they live, all parents want the same things—safety, opportunity, and people who are deeply invested in their kids’ success.

We started this work as a drop-in program for youth years ago. Over time we have learned alongside youth and parents about the opportunities and challenges they face. We’ve now created many opportunities for youth to engage around their interests while they learn skills, gain confidence and act on their own leadership.

Hope surrounds youth with people who believe in their potential to learn, create and lead.

In low-income communities, strong intergenerational relationships often root youth for success. Here, youth strengthen their community relationships across ages, cultures and languages. Youth emerge not just with new knowledge and strategies, but also with the connections that will support them into the future.

Clubhouse-2-Career Pathways (C2C) and Girls Empowerment Movement (GEMS)

The Clubhouse-2-Career Pathways (C2C) and Girls Empowerment Movement (GEMS) program is a 6-9 month journey for BIPOC girls and non-binary youth ages 16-19. Part of the program, under the C2C curriculum, is focused toward exposing teens to professional technology skills, jobs, and academic opportunities. Our goal is to provide a safe space for youth to explore their creativity while connecting and learning from mentors in their fields of interest and like-minded peers.

The other part of the program, under GEMS curriculum, is about each participant developing collective organizing and self-advocacy skills, and confidence in their own individual voices through projects, field trips and speaker-led discussions.

C2C’s GOAL: To equip young BIPOC girls (ages 16-19) with the tools necessary to bridge the gap present in STEM/STEAM field through after school programming, workshops, unique activities, and community.

GEMS’s GOAL: To engage these young women of color around four core themes: educational empowerment, critical thinking and awareness, developing bonds of sisterhood and civic engagement.

The program recruits in October/November and the program finishes in June.

YMG (Young Men’s Group)

We empower young men of color though leadership development rooted in culturally centered experiential learning. Our goal is to improve the trajectory of young men of color. Young men gain advanced knowledge and skills in a variety of applied leadership techniques and self-development.

Summer Camp Leadership

Many years ago we started sending youth to week-long camp. Now what they do before the camp is more important than the camp itself. The youth ages 10-14 are immersed in an intensive leadership cohort. They apply what they learn to their first-time experience of camp. The youth develop self-advocacy, navigate issues of race, make new friends, and expand their networks. Consistently Hope youth are recognized as leaders at the camp, and many have been hired as camp counselors bringing broader cultural diversity to the staff.

Summer Academic and Leadership Opportunities

We partner with a number of rigorous summer enrichment opportunities for youth. Through our broad youth network, Hope staff connect youth and programs with each other. Cohorts of youth, ages 15-18, attend the programs organized by higher educational institutions and others. In a cultural context, youth engage in leadership development, career exploration and experiential learning.