A movement of hope has begun.
A nonprofit is born.
Community of Hope Inc. was created to help build sustainability and to expand the number of youth/families that receive support through The Open Table model here in Cleveland. We are in the process of becoming a 501c3 with the help of our attorneys.
What is Community of Hope? Our mission is to build lasting relationships, nurture hope, and restore dignity by creating family-like relationships for Cleveland’s youth.
How will we impact Cleveland? As a result of our work, we believe that youth impacted by poverty will no longer be invisible or marginalized in Cleveland. There will be a decrease in loneliness, homelessness and joblessness among the youth we serve, resulting in a reduction in the loss of human potential in our city and a lasting reduction in the exposure to adverse experiences for the children of young parents we serve.
Community of Hope will license the Open Table model and work to expand services by hiring staff, raising up volunteer leaders, and expanding the number of tables that are created and supported. We want every young person who has been impacted by foster care or homelessness—who wants a table—to have one, and with only 2 people working full time on this right now, our ability to do this work in a timely fashion will be hampered, if we don’t build some infrastructure.
We will also need to find a place to house staff, have organizational and training meetings, and host events. We are looking for a place downtown or close to downtown so that east, west and south side folks can all come together and meet with our young people who want tables.
After the event last week, and all of the different stories that Cleveland.com has published, the community has really responded. We have received over 130 emails from people interested in serving on tables. Then, on the night of the event over 135 people filled out response cards wanting to sit on tables. There were also 12 people who heard about the 2,100 children in foster care and the over 400 children in Cleveland waiting for adoption and said that they wanted to learn more about how to foster or adopt. The interest keeps pouring in and MetroHealth Hospital has also decided to help get involved and expand the model to serve more people in Cleveland.
How can you help?
If you are interested in volunteering, please complete this volunteer form.
If you want to know more about our work, please complete this indication of interest form.
If you want to send us an email and offer your help in another way, feel free to contact us at: clecommunityofhope@gmail.com.