Tag Archives: Hope House of Colorado

FY11 Partners Selected!

After a typically long and difficult process, the Mt. Pleasant Fund’s Board of Directors recently made its funding decisions for the upcoming fiscal year. The following organizations will be receiving (or have already received) checks from the Fund:

Bridgeway of Lakewood, Colorado is receiving a grant for the sixth consecutive year. Bridgeway is a group home providing support for teen mothers and their children.

Canones Early Childhood Center in Canones, New Mexico received a grant from the Fund in 2007, but as the Fund’s guidelines changed, the Center no longer fit within our specific funding criteria. This year with the shift to considering only those agencies recommended to the board by the membership, Canones was once again eligible (given that one of our members asked that we invite a Letter of Intent). Canones Early Childhood Center provides services to pre-elementary school aged kids in rural northern New Mexico.

The CARE Center of Holyoke, Massachusetts is a school dedicated to supporting teen mothers and their children. This is our 7th year of supporting The CARE Center (our 6th consecutive year).

This is our third consecutive year of supporting Hope House of Arvada, Colorado. Hope House of Colorado is a group home and resource center for teen-aged moms and their children.

Hope House Goes to Uganda

Suubi House Girls
(Teen Moms and Their Children at Suubi House in Uganda)

We first met Miriam in 2007, when she visited from Uganda, Africa. Miriam is the YFC Director of a maternity home and crisis pregnancy center for teen moms called Mirembe House. It was immediately clear that God had placed a passion for teen moms in the hearts of the staff in Uganda, just as He had placed it in ours! When Miriam visited in 2009, she shared the vision for a home for parenting teen moms, as so many of the girls from Mirembe had no family to go to following their babies birth. In 2010, Suubi House opened – Suubi means “Hope” in Lugandan!

 In May of this year, three Hope House staff members traveled to Uganda with Youth for Christ and How101 – a Denver ministry that offers scholarships to teen moms in Uganda so they can go to school.  We are so incredibly grateful that God gave us the chance to meet and serve over 80 teen mothers and their children in Uganda! Our goal was to find out what it takes for a teen mom in Uganda to be able to be self sufficient, and how God might lead us to partner with YFC & How101 to make that happen. We also desired to start a “pen pal” or e-mail communication program between our Hope House girls and the Suubi House girls, offering them an opportunity to share how much they have in common, even half a world apart!

 God has given us such a huge vision –  to see the lives of teen moms all over the world transformed by learning how much God loves them, and through access to the tools they need to be self sufficient and loving parents. In our five year strategic plan, we have set a goal for partnering nationally and internationally with organizations who share our vision and values, and our deep passion for teen mothers and their children. We are SO excited to see how God will use our partnership with How101 and YFC to transform the lives of our girls in Uganda! – Lisa Steven, Executive Director at Hope House

 

A Note From Hope House of Colorado Executive Director Lisa Steven

Hi all! Anne and Ana, it makes me miss you just to look at the pictures of your girls on your web site! Hope House is almost done writing our five year Strategic Plan, and The Care Center was a topic of much discussion during our planning process. Our visit in September 2010 to MA and The Care Center solidified for us that one of our five year Strategic Goals is to create national, and even international, partnerships with those who serve parenting teens, and who have the same basic values that we do. Our desire is to create relationships that sharpen us all, and allow us to serve our teen moms even more efficiently. A second objective for Hope House is to build a Resource Center near our current Residential Home for teen moms. This would allow us to provide GED, life skills, Parenting and healthy relationship classes. We want a daycare center and a large kitchen. Thanks to The Care Center we know we need an art room and a “school nurse”! I can’t wait to keep in touch as we start our Resource Center process, and learn from all of you! A huge thank you to the Mt Pleasant Fund for inspiring us through that trip!