Hope Communities Inc

Programs: Programs: real estate development, affordable housinghope communities was established 38 years ago, in 1980, by visionaries ray and marilyn stranske. It was initiated as a means to provide training, support services and housing to low-income individuals and families either experiencing or at the brink of homelessness. They quickly realized that people had a difficult time advancing toward self-sufficiency if they did not have a safe place to call home. They began a quest to offer quality, affordable housing with supportive programs and services, which has been vitally important ever since. Over the years, hope has built, purchased or renovated nearly 800 rental units for low-income renters. The organizations genesis occurred in the historic five points neighborhood, though over the years they expanded their inventory to provide rental units in multiple neighborhoods in denver. They were the first to build a new mixed-use, mixed income tod building on denvers welton street light rail line with 9% low income housing tax credits (lihtc), renovated a 130-unit apartment complex in east denver and purchased 93 townhouses in north park hill. Most recently, hope purchased and renovated an historic building in five points to use as a community center with historic and new market tax credits. Hope currently holds 278 affordable units across denver. The organization continues to seek opportunities for future housing development in a city that desperately needs affordable homes for its current employees and others migrating to the mile-high city.

programs: education, case management, resource navigation and services for adults and children. We create and offer residents and individuals from area neighborhoods quality educational and enrichment opportunities unique to the individuals we serve. We strive for hopes residents to be empowered, self-sustainable and active members of the greater community. We provide both direct programs and services as well as leveraging third-party service providers to assist hope communities residents and neighbors. Hope provides housing, programs and services to more than 1,000 individuals per year. *adult education - hope communities residents are diverse. Education and opportunity are keys to economic mobility and self-sufficiency. Hope communities provides programs and services that encourage and engage adult learners to acquire and advance skill sets. Some of these include: computer classes, career exploration and workforce training, cooking classes, project shine english and health literacy, and english language learning classes (reading, writing, multi-level classes), parenting, cultural competencies and leadership development. *youth education - hope communities offers early childhood education, healthy parent-child relationship programs, as well as after-school and summer enrichment, academic support, tutoring, leadership development and programs/activities to advance social-emotional development. Some specific programs include: healthy tots, homework help, youth mentoring and summer enrichment programs such as big city mountaineering overnight camp, health & nutrition, youth garden program, youth leadership program and the girls empowerment group. Hope aims to help children and youth be school ready, have academic success, further social/emotional development, make healthy choices and build character. *health and wellness - on-site health fairs; health literacy and patient navigation;cooking health and budgeting classes; and a walking club are offered to residents to improve health and wellness. Hope communities offers direct services and partners with programs to increase resident and community members access to/and understanding of the medical system, healthy eating and exercise. *community building - hope communities promotes and facilitates resident engagement in the design and implementation of programs and services at each site. Resident-driven activities may include:classes for cooking, parenting, soft skills for work, financial literacy, budgeting and home ownership; health and wellness activities; childrens programming and family-friendly activities. We promote and facilitate resident participation and community interactions through on-site programming and strong neighborhood alliances. Including: resident council meetings, community gardens, neighborhood development and community impact events, quarterly neighborhood watch and safety meetings, and quarterly property specific events. Hope is also a leader in the community and convener for nonprofits, agencies and service-providers in the neighborhoods in which we provide housing. *case management - individual and family case management services support the basicneeds of residents and outside community members. Resource navigation is provided to help residents work effectively with key contacts in the community (such as their childrens school, health clinics, employers, etc. ) and to assist with problem-solving, legal issues and individual goal attainment. On-site interpretation services are available when needed. The spring institutes project shine program offers individual and family health-specific patient navigation assistance. *holiday treasure store - hope communities provides an opportunity for parents toshop for their children each december through the holiday treasure store. New, donated gifts are available for parents of our residences for free. This is sometimes the first time have received holiday gifts.