Hands4Hope – Youth Making a Difference is an El Dorado County based nonprofit whose mission is to inspire and empower youth in leadership and service. Hands4Hope achieves this mission through their Education Program and their Community Engagement Program. The Education Program is targeted to middle school and high school students with clubs at 14 different campuses throughout the area that focus on educating youth about needs within their community and giving them the opportunity to design their own service-learning projects, often in collaboration with other nonprofits, to help fulfill some of those unmet needs. Another component of the Education Program are the after-school Youth Committees that focus on areas of need specific to that committee.
After-school Youth Committees focus on one specific area of community need for an entire program year. For example, there is a youth committee focused on homelessness, another focused on at-risk youth, as well as an emergency food pantry committee that came out of food insecurity needs due to COVID-19. Recently, there has also been a youth committee partnership with ASPIREKids to help fill clothing needs for at-risk youth, and explore the possibility of establishing a long-term clothing closet. These youth committees teach youth about needs and social issues within their communities and how they can take action and have an impact. The empowering nature of this kind of program is what makes it so effective in driving youth engagement, developing leadership qualities, and building confidence – reinforcing that despite their age, they can in fact make a difference in the communities in which they live.
The other major program at Hands4Hope is their Community Engagement Program which is also targeted toward middle through high school students but is open to elementary students as well, giving the younger students a chance to get involved and learn about the power they have to make a difference. The Community Engagement Program focuses on volunteer opportunities such as preparing and distributing dinner for Creekview Manor Mercy Housing residents, serving meals at the Upper Room Dining Hall, cooking and serving breakfast and providing groceries at Green Valley Community Church, and tutoring children at White Rock Village. These volunteer opportunities give youth a chance to learn many different ways they can give back to the community and often spark a passion within the youth participants, leading them to join the Hands4Hope Club at their school or one of the after school youth committees. Fostering a passion for community service in youth participants is a gift that will last long into adulthood, teaching the value of giving back to the community.
These programs are all youth-led with that leadership starting as early as 6th and 7th grade. A rigorous leadership camp as well as ongoing leadership training throughout the year prepares students to lead their peers and provides them with the skills to guide their peers through the stages of service-learning, developing projects from start to finish. Another primary component to everything Hands4Hope does is their Youth Board, which is comprised of representatives from each high school club and each after school committee. These representatives come together and inform the overall organization on youth voice, providing input on where Hands4Hope goes as an organization, who they take on as partners, as well as adopting their own large project each year with a nonprofit partner of their choice. This year, the Youth Board has selected Walk With Austin to partner with in a project to create an all abilities park in the Bass Lake Area.
Giving youth the opportunity to begin learning about leadership and service as early as 6th grade and to continue advancing those skills through high school helps prepare them to be civic minded and socially responsible adults.
It’s no question that COVID has been a challenge for Hands4Hope through 2020 and 2021, but the resiliency of the youth involved in Hands4Hope’s programs has been evident, leading to increased engagement as new needs were identified and youth leadership stepped up to meet those needs head on. Through the struggles of the last two years there has been at least one major triumph for Hands4Hope, the opening of their new Placerville Youth Center! From a Home Depot grant paying for the renovation supplies and materials to members of the community coming together to provide the labor, the Placerville Youth Center was made a reality and given its grand opening in July of 2021.
Even before the grand opening, the Placerville Youth Center was being utilized by youth as a food pantry and a location for sorting and organizing items collected during the school supply drives, giving a sense of ownership to the youth involved in those projects. They were even able to give input in various decisions during the renovation process, further enforcing that this was their place, a place where their decisions and their actions will shape the impact they will have on their community for years to come.
Looking forward, Hands4Hope – Youth Making a Difference has several things on track for 2022 and beyond. They have plans to implement their new Effective Youth & Adult Partnership training organization wide, teaching adults how to work with youth at a partnership level so that youth and adults can work together on a project without a hierarchy dictating who has more say over the project. Diversity training for staff, volunteers, and youth in the program is another big focus for 2022, with the goal being to continue to provide a safe environment for everyone. Hands4Hope also plans to expand their School Supply Distribution event, a part of the Community Engagement Program, into Cameron Park to fill a need for students in that community who don’t have access to transportation to the Placerville distribution site. Expanded resources, such as mobile dental and eye care services are another element being explored as additions to the school supply distribution sites in 2022, to ensure that families in need will have access to those essential services.
A college internship program is also set to launch in 2022, allowing college students to intern with Hands4Hope on a project management level. Internships will be paid and open to all college students, not just Hands4Hope alumni!
When asked if there was any message she wanted to convey to the community, Jennifer Bassett, Founder & Executive Director for Hands4Hope said:
“Thank you, thank you to the Community Foundation, thank you to the community as a whole. The Placerville Youth Center would not be here had it not been for the community coming together and making it happen. Hands4Hope would not be in all of the schools in Placerville or the rest of El Dorado County without the community wrapping their arms around us, and we wouldn’t have been able to support the youth in the way that we have over the last two years without the support we have received, so thank you! We are so very grateful!“
Hands4Hope is always looking for adult volunteers to be project mentors and outreach leads! If you are interested in getting involved, you can find out how here. You can also support Hands4Hope – Youth Making a Difference by making a donation here.
