Blog Archives

Thanks from Hope at the Holidays

11/15/2017

At the holidays, we want to thank you for all you do throughout the year to support Hope Collaborative, our partners, and our youth participants.

Hope Collaborative’s mission is to deliver outstanding leadership development programming to at-risk kids and teens globally.

We have developed a 12-module, 4-year program that leading institutions in youth advocacy have called the best of its kind. We collaborate with our development partners, The Massachusetts General Hospital Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds, to deliver outstanding results that are long-lasting and change the arc of young people’s lives.

Harvard Press called leadership development the singular driver of success for individuals and organizations. Researchers suggest that it is a primary missing element in lifting people out of poverty.

We thought you’d enjoy these photos from participants around our network, from Massachusetts and New York, from India to Sierra Leone. Young leaders are developing their leadership voices and impacting their communities every day.

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Leadership and Creative Expression

11/10/2017

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We have made creative expression one of the cornerstones of the Hope Leadership Development Program.

Research suggests that for aspiring leaders, crafting their own leadership stories is a powerful way to understand others, self-actualize, and engage and inspire others.

The concept is this: young leaders who describe their journey to leadership through storytelling and art uncover key challenges and moments of resilience and victory that inform who they have become and why their contribution to a group matters.

As they understand the journey of self, they can connect to their community and its challenges and needs. It is in connecting the two that makes a leader's experience and impact matter.

Creativity and unique personal expression are the key components of good storytelling.

Our work is to provide youth with resources and projects that ignite the creative spark already present in young people—whether or not they identify as artists, musicians, poets, or actors. Often, students who have not tried a particular art form find a way to express themselves, or fall in love with a new kind of creative pursuit!

At Presidency High School in Nizamabad, India, students in the Self-Awareness module are currently rising to the challenge and discovering their passions and skills.

We have seen beautiful drawings and storytelling pieces coming from Presidency that reflect increased self-knowledge and that help clarify their challenges and goals for the future. Today, we are excited to share these, including the first fully-playable game around the levels of Self-Awareness and what it means to young teens!

Based on the concept of Snakes & Ladders, the Self-Awareness Game that Presidency created is played with dice, and features tiles that ask critical questions from the curriculum they are experiencing. As students land on different spaces, they have the opportunity to dig deeper into their own personalities, hopes and fears, future plans, and other aspects of the self.

Gaming is a form of storytelling, and came from an inspired group of young, developing leaders.

Another exciting group project we are proud to feature is the lyrics to an original song about self-awareness in relationships.

The song, which Presidency plans to perform on video soon, was written in response to a difficult time. As many students discover, creative expression can be a positive way to release negative emotion around core life challenges. It is an inside-out method of finding strength, courage, and leadership capacity.

"Without you, I feel like leaving my life...
Without you, I feel like a bird without wings...
Without you, I'm just a sad song."

Hope's educational video project at the end of each module acts as the showcase for students' creative work throughout the program.

Students at Presidency School are showing their advanced leadership skills by getting involved in every step of video productrion.

From planning each element of the work to dividing up tasks, these "Roles and Responsibilities" posters are a testament to the collaborative spirit of the group.

This kind of planning, role assignment, and accountability mapping is critical to success, and often difficult for many corporate managers and leaders.

Hope is excited to be starting on this kind of skill building with young people early.

And it's thrilling to see the videos as students at Presidency pursue creative practice as a high form of learning and self development!

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The Best of Hope: Stories of Courage and Leadership

11/3/2017

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Our work at Hope Collaborative delivering leadership development programming to kids and teens from under-resourced neighborhoods provide us a a rich view into the world of young people working to develop their voice and have an impact.

Stories of courage and leadership, told by young leaders striving to overcome difficult odds, are a highlight of the work that we do.

Our talented video editor and social media team have collected some of the more telling moments for your enjoyment today from around what is now an international Hope network.

"If you think something is hard...just get through it. If you think that you can do it, know that you can do it." - Naziha

"You should always listen to someone else's point of view before you start arguing with them." - Vashawn

"The most valuable thing I've learned is being nice to people and giving them a second chance." - Marwah

Ibrahim, a student at Malik Academy: "Hope Collaborative is great for teaching young people how to deal with certain relationships, problems, and everyday life."

Nayeliz, a young artist at Boys & Girls Clubs: "Once I knew it was like problem solving—about conflicts, and related to your life—then I got more interested too, because for me it sounded more relatable."

The lessons and insights gained from each learning module are as diverse and unique as our participants.

Like Aja's insights on empathy—"you have to learn how to place yourself in their shoes...to understand what they're saying."

Hope participants are connecting leadership goals to their work at school and in their personal personal lives in new and exciting ways that have rich meaning and connection. When asked if he identifies as a leader, Mohamed smiles and says, "I'm getting there."

As are we all.

Such is the leadership journey

Watch the Video

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Thanks from Hope at the Holidays

Leadership and Creative Expression

The Best of Hope: Stories of Courage and Leadership

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