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COMMUNITY
The HOPE Village Initiative is breaking the cycle of generational poverty impacting the community around Focus: HOPE by: providing quality education for children and families, creating economic opportunities for community members and transforming the environment.
Education
Focus: HOPE and its partners are working to provide quality education for children and families in the HOPE Village.
Early Childhood Education
Established in 1987, Focus: HOPE’s early learning programs: Serve over 200 children per year; Serve over 250 women a year with peer to peer support for pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and early parenting.
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What are Doulas?
Doulas provide continuous physical and emotional support to women and their partners during pregnancy and childbirth and early parenting. They offer advice on breathing, relaxation, movement and positioning in order to minimize labor pains. Throughout the labor process, doulas help women and their partners remain informed about the course of their labor and the options available to them. After delivery, our doulas provide peer breastfeeding counseling.
Benefits of having a Doula
- Less likely to use pain medications during labor
- Less likely to report dissatisfaction of any part of delivery
- Have shorter labors
- Have fewer cesareans or instrumental vaginal births
- Fewer babies with a low five-minute Apgar score
Services Provided:
For pregnant women and new mothers, we provide free, in-home non-medical support, childbirth education and community resources.
Expecting mothers can meet with their Doula at the Center for Children, or our Doulas and counselors will travel to the mother’s home and/or doctor visits.
For more information, call 313.494.4400 or email waymond.hayes@focushope.edu.
Focus: HOPE is a proud member of the Thrive By Five Detroit collaborative, working to bring seamless Head Start services for children from birth to five years old.
Early Head Start:
A federally-funded, community-based programs for low income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers. We provide early, continuous, intensive and comprehensive child development and family support services. Students are provided breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack at no cost.
Location:
Early Head Start
Center for Children
1550 Oakman Blvd, Detroit, MI
Those qualified include families meeting the federal poverty guidelines, foster children or families who receive SSI or DHS payments
Hours:
Early Head Start:
Monday-Friday; 8:30 am- 4:00 pm year round except holidays
Contact:
Call 313-494-4400 to learn how to enroll your child in the Early Head Start program.
Download an application packet here
Cost:
There is no cost to qualified families.
The annual reports for Focus: HOPE’s Early Head Start and Head Start can be found here.
Focus: HOPE is a proud member of the Thrive By Five Detroit collaborative, working to bring seamless Head Start services for children from birth to five years old.
Head Start:
Head Start is a federally-funded, community-based program for low income children ages 3 to 5 years old. It provides early, continuous, intensive and comprehensive child development and family support services to low income toddlers and their families.
Locations:
Center for Children
1550 Oakman Blvd, Detroit, MI
New Paradigm Glazer
2001 LaBelle Avenue, Detroit, MI
Those qualified include families meeting the federal poverty guidelines, foster children or families who receive SSI or DHS payments
Hours:
Head Start:
Monday – Thursday; 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. – part year and full year options offered
Contact:
Call 313-494-4400 to learn how to enroll your child in the Head Start Program.
Download an application packet here
Cost:
There is no cost to qualified families
The annual reports for Focus: HOPE’s Early Head Start and Head Start can be found here.
The Great Start Readiness program is a state funded, preschool program for children that are 4 years old.
Location:
The program is located at the Center for Children at 1550 Oakman Boulevard and offers a full day class that emphasizes hands-on learning, opportunities for creative expression, and development of basic math and reading skills.
Cost:
There is no cost to qualified families.
Students are provided breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack at no additional cost.
Eligibility Requirements:
Child must be 4 years old
Families must meet the state income eligibility guideline.
Families must live in Wayne County
Hours:
8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, during the academic year
Contact:
Call 313-494-4400 to learn how to enroll your child in the Great Start Readiness program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cibVLpBSDHs
CDF Freedom School
Beginning in summer 2016, Focus: HOPE partnered with the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) to launch the HOPE Village CDF Freedom Schools and promote the development of strong, literate, and empowered young people in Detroit’s HOPE Village. The full-day summer program lasts six weeks and features a multicultural reading curriculum with the theme, “I can make a difference.” All programming is completely free to families.
Programming Includes:
- Multicultural reading curriculum
- Science, technology, engineering, arts, and math
- Weekly field trips
- Weekly family engagement sessions
- Civic engagement and social action
- Intergenerational leadership development
- Healthy breakfast, lunch, and snacks
Program Outcomes:
CDF Freedom Schools combat summer learning loss, a phenomenon that disproportionately affects low-income children. Instead of declining over the summer, HOPE Village CDF Freedom Schools students’ reading levels increased by an average of nine months over the course of the six-week program.
Additional outcomes include:
- Love of reading
- Positive attitudes about school
- Self-esteem
- Positive racial identity
- Conflict resolution skills
- Parent engagement
Plans for the Future:
In 2016, the first HOPE Village CDF Freedom School served 50 children in grades K-2. Due to the students’ success and the overwhelmingly positive response from community members, Focus: HOPE is working to expand the summer program in 2017 to serve children in grades K-5 and then begin offering after-school programming in the fall. In order to create a pipeline of supports and attain the HVI’s 2031 goal, we aim to serve an even larger number of HOPE Village children and families in 2018.
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Youth Development
Focus: HOPE has been driving successful youth development for years through the efforts of its Community Arts and Generation of Promise.
Youth programming works to guide community youth to the highest levels of personal achievement through concentration on academic achievement, leadership development, personal development, community involvement, regional relations, and cultural competence/diversity training.
Excel Photography Program is FREE and engages Detroit middle-school students in an after-school, project-based photography and leadership development curriculum coupled with exciting field trips throughout southeastern Michigan such as the Historic Eastern Market, Cranbrook Educational Campus, Detroit Institute of Arts, Historic Trinity Church, Belle Isle, downtown Royal Oak, Mexican Town, College for Creative Studies, Yates Cider Mill, U of M Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Greenfield Village, The Heidelberg Project, and more.
This semester long program provides instruction in the technical and aesthetic aspects of 35mm digital photography. Photographic assignments are outcome-based in that students plan and execute their ideas, and evaluate their finished projects through student-led critiques.
Excel also serves as an outlet to elevate success levels of participants. Each student participates in self-development and leadership activities with the goal of cultivating self- confidence, self-esteem, self-discipline, and a heightened interest in lifelong learning.
Call Annette Vanover at 313-494-4376 or email vanovea@focushope.edu
Generation of Promise aims to build a community of young leaders who celebrate diversity and are dedicated to the elimination of discrimination in metropolitan Detroit. Generation of Promise provides an opportunity for local youth to engage in leadership development and build regional cooperation.
Generation of Promise conducts a 10-month diversity awareness and relationship building program for an annual class of 60 high school juniors.
Generation of Promise member high schools reflect a wide range of racial, ethnic, religious and socio-economic communities. The communities include Birmingham, Dearborn, Detroit, Grosse Pointe, Southfield and Warren.
Students engage in over 120 hours of program experiences between August and May including a summer orientation retreat. Students are encouraged to challenge stereotypes or misconceptions they hold and work to build relationships across divisions. They are also challenged to refine their leadership skills and are given opportunities to apply those skills in a variety of settings.
Requirements:
Participants of Generation of Promise must be enrolled in one of our partner schools. A list of participating schools can be found here.
Students complete the application as a sophomore and participate in the program during their junior year of high school.
Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA or above
Duration:
August – April
Every Second Wednesday of each month;
7:45 am – 3:00 pm (students are excused from school to participate)
Graduation is the first Sunday in May.
For More Information
Contact Amy Costello
Call: 313.494.4565
Email: amy.costello@focushope.edu
Economics
Focus: HOPE and its partners are working to provide ensure that children and their families have access to economic opportunity
Center for Working Families
Earn It, Keep It, Grow It!
We provide no-cost services to help local residents and students attain family stability and achieve their financial and career goals.
Our CWF is a proud member of the Greater Detroit Center for Working Families’, a network of CWFs across Detroit and Pontiac working collectively to provide financial opportunities to its participants.
Financial Success Classes and Coaching
Offers FREE classes and one on one coaching that help improve credit score, set budgets, developing a plan and more.
Income Support Assistance
The Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) has a permanent presence on Focus: HOPE’s campus. Counselors are available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Neighborhood Network
A powerful “success network” that both strengthens connections between neighbors and weaves together the services of seven nonprofit organizations to create success opportunities for Network members.
Network membership is open to families and individuals who live or go to school in the neighborhood. Each organizational network partner offers different and complementary services; together they are implementing a collective impact model – one which:
- provides access to the services of all organizations through multiple points of entry
- allows for sharing of data about the impact of the Network on the self-sufficiency of individual Network members
- is changing the odds of success and economic self-sufficiency for neighborhood residents
Partner Organizations:
- DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY, PARKMAN BRANCH
- FOCUS: HOPE CENTER FOR WORKING FAMILIES
- ACCOUNTING AID SOCIETY
- JOY PREPARATORY ACADEMY
- NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE ORGANIZATION (NSO)
- NEW PARADIGM GLAZER ACADEMY
- WELLSPRING LUTHERAN SERVICES, OAKMAN PLACE APARTMENTS
Small Business Support and Entrepreneurship
Community revitalization efforts also include developing a comprehensive program of supports for cultivating the HVI business community. This consists of a series of trainings, workshops, a co-working space and technical assistance to entrepreneurs and small business owners.
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The Business Village
The Business Village at Focus: HOPE is a community-based co-working space allowing entrepreneurs, bloggers, small businesses, start-ups and more, to rent out office space.
Similar to other co-working spaces, the Business Village will offer amenities such as desk space, collaboration space, office equipment (e.g. printer, copier, fax, Internet service), and business support services. The Business Village offers these amenities in a place-based, neighborhood environment, and at affordable prices in collaboration with ProsperUs Detroit.
Interested in becoming a member of The Business Village? Contact The Business Village at 313-494-4279 or email businessvillage@focushope.edu for more information.
Small Business Supports
- Facade improvement projects
- Small business supports resulted in growth along West Davison Avenue
Partners
- New Economy Initiative (NEIdeas)
- Motor City Match
- ProsperUs Detroit
ProsperUs Entrepreneurship Training
Are you a budding entrepreneur? Want to expand your small business? Have a great business idea but need help getting started? In partnership with ProsperUS Detroit, Focus: HOPE offers an entrepreneur training program and entrepreneur support services.
ProsperUS consists of 11 sessions of instruction, 1 graduation, and 10 hours of one-on-one counseling all with an experienced entrepreneur trainer. Entrepreneurs will meet once a week for 2 hours with 7-12 other entrepreneurs to learn and explore. After graduation support services are available. Graduates of the training are eligible to apply for technical assistance and/or micro-loans.
Environment
Focus: HOPE and its partners are working to ensure that HOPE Village children and families live in a safe and supportive neighborhood
Community Planning and Organizing/Advocacy and Resident Leadership
- HOPE Village residents developed a Community Strategic Plan and Vision in 2016; focused on becoming an equitable, sustainable community that provides a high quality of life for all residents. A copy of the plan can be found here.
- Focus: HOPE’s Community Involvement and Safety team convenes regular neighborhood Town Halls and works closely with resident leaders to advocate on behalf of the neighborhood.
- HOPE Village Education Action Team provides opportunities for parents to understand and advocate for education reform.
Community Safety
Significant strides have been made to build a crime-free community through our Community Safety Coordination Strategy. Crime hot spots have been identified and information circulated to neighbors regarding the crime that is occurring.
More than 700 properties have been referred to the Wayne County Nuisance Abatement Program, which tackles blighted and deteriorated buildings. Also, residents are taking action and reporting crimes in our anonymous drop–boxes, places where they can comfortably and anonymously report crimes in the area.
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Keep it 100!
Keep it 100! is an ongoing project in HOPE Village that aims to make the HOPE Village 100% clean, safe and beautiful.
From 2015 – 2017 the following was accomplished:
- Over 320 trees and bushes were planted
- Over 18 alleys were cleaned
- Over 1,600 cubic yards of debris/brush were removed
- Over 600 tires were removed
- Over 250 abandoned homes were demolished
Revitalizing the
Built Environment
Eco-District
HOPE Village became one of two inaugural Eco-Ds in Detroit in 2016. Through this initiative, it is working to become a sustainable, equitable, liveable and resilient community.
Parks and Open Space
Every park in the HOPE Village has been repaired and improved during the last 10 years. Focus: HOPE and the HOPE Village are working with the City of Detroit and other partners on vision for a new Inner Circle Greenway that will connect the HOPE Village to other neighborhoods along a 26 mile walking and biking path on a converted railroad corridor.
