History

The pastoral teams of three Camden churches, two Lutheran and one Catholic, founded Hopeworks collaboratively.  We officially opened our doors to our first trainees in March 2000. Since then:
  • Nearly 1,000 youth from our target population have visited Hopeworks.
  • Trainees have gone on to get jobs, attend college, and earn GEDs.
  • Under the direction of our full-time Web site project director, our trainees have developed Web sites for more than 180 paying clients, mainly local, national, and international small businesses and non-profit organizations.
  • Our GIS business has served more than 60 clients, producing parcel maps, digitizing land use information, and creating online mapping functionality with Google Maps.
  • We have developed lasting partnerships with six different organizations (a mix of governmental, commercial, and faith-based organizations) that help us to accomplish our mission.

About the y c n y

We do this by enhancing the lives ­of inner-city Camden youth. We expand the learning opportunities available to them, point the way to a future full of hope, and work together to create that future. The heart of our program is technology training, which we provide in­ a safe, respectful, and celebratory atmosphere. We train our youth in state-of-the art computer applications: Web site design, geographic information services (GIS), computer networking and repair, and video.

Through the Hopeworks program, we seek in particular:

  • To reduce the high school dropout rate for African-American and Hispanic youth in Camden, New Jersey.
  • To create hope for the future, good-paying jobs, business development, and educational opportunities for Camden’s young people: specifically for African-American and Hispanic youth between the ages of 17 and 25 who have dropped out of school. Such a mission is essential because, in our city:
    • 8,000 young people have dropped out of high school.
    • At the two public high schools, the high school dropout rate is nearly 70%.
    • 34% of the city’s young people are unemployed.
    • Nearly 50% of the city’s young people live in poverty.