2021 was a very successful year for HOPE! Not only did we expand programming from coast to coast and overseas, so have our team and partners. Below are the extraordinary ways that HOPE grew throughout 2021!
The HOPE National Resource Center (NRC) started 2021 with four team members and almost doubled in size by adding three new positions. Our two new Program Managers are Amanda Winn and Allison Stephens, and our new Administrative Assistant is Isabella Pagnozzi. Additionally, Laura Gallant joined the NRC as a Research Assistant, proceeding Chloe Yang’s departure to graduate school. With more staff, we have been able to grow our programming in both participation and in what we offer.
When 2021 began, the HOPE team had a goal of providing training and technical assistance to a minimum of 10 organizations from diverse sectors, populations served, and geographic locations. We greatly exceeded this goal, with over 80 workshops this year and almost 10,000 individuals from 11 different sectors trained. HOPE also launched the online learning course, Spreading HOPE. Today, 135 individuals have completed the course, and 472 people have enrolled.
HOPE also launched two new training options. We now offer a Train the Facilitator program, which certifies participants to facilitate HOPE workshops. We have already certified 23 facilitators from 8 different organizations. If you are interested in becoming a HOPE Facilitator, sign up for one of our upcoming cohorts or reach out to the HOPE Team here.
HOPE also added a HOPEful Conversations Workshop series. These are hour-long conversations for professionals in specific sectors to discuss how to implement the HOPE Framework. So far, we have hosted a HOPE 101 and HOPE in Communities. This series will continue into 2022, learn more here.
Another milestone for HOPE was hosting our inaugural HOPE Summit, Spreading HOPE. The Summit was bigger than expected with 400 people attending and more than 10 different sessions. Participants from throughout the United States and beyond (including Ireland, Canada, England, and even Australia) joined in rich discussion about HOPE and Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs)! We are excited to announce our next HOPE Summit on March 8, 2022, along with our first ever Week of HOPE from March 7 – 11, 2022. Sign up here to get up-to-date information about registration.
This year, HOPE continued to learn and to understand how families have been coping during the pandemic. In collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, Prevent Child Abuse America and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), we conducted a survey with 9,000 parent responses. These responses showed strong resilience among families and led to six published snapshots of family experiences during the pandemic. There will be more snapshots to come in 2022.
In 2021, the HOPE National Resource Center worked with organizations and agencies across the country. In our home state of Massachusetts, we helped the Office of the Child Advocate create their new Center on Child Wellbeing. Currently, we are working with our Department of Public Health to create HOPE-informed career development materials for State employees and contractors. In California, we led sessions for the ACEs Academy and worked with the Resilient Beginnings Network to add HOPE to their state’s nation-leading trauma-informed care initiatives. We also partnered with Nemours to develop parent café materials and add the HOPE Framework to their training materials.
Along the way, HOPE has both examined our progress and reported that progress broadly. Three peer-reviewed publications describe our experiences to date, and we published a blog with key findings from our external evaluation team. The HOPE team presented at the National Home Visiting Network annual meeting, the Academy on Violence and Abuse, the American Public Health Association, and the Prevent Child Abuse America Annual meeting. We also gave a poster presentation called Transforming Practice with HOPE at the Vital Village Networks National Community Leadership Summit. For more news, follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn, or visit our newly-designed website!
Lastly, HOPE added many new resources to our toolkit, from helping providers assess PCEs, guide HOPE-informed supervision, and offering several resources in Spanish. We also published over 65 blogs throughout 2021! HOPE blog topics included: Simone Biles, What HOPE Adds, HOPE in Practice, and many more!
This year has brought so much to be HOPE-full about, and we cannot wait to see what 2022 will bring!
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
