Urban Hope

Urban Hope uses several vehicles to achieve its mission:

Job Club - In this work readiness program, students learn everything from interview skills, to thriving in the workplace. Students experience hands-on training as they work for local Durham businesses. Job coaches help students learn the soft skills they need to get, and advance at a job.

Dollars and Sense - Is an educational component that helps students become financially literate. Specifically, participants learn about budgeting, credit, interest, investing, and managing checking & savings accounts.

Entrepreneurship - Offers the teenagers business skills training and an opportunity to experience many of the different aspects of operating their own for-profit small business.

Bible Jump Off - This bi-weekly small group meeting during the school year digs into the Scriptures to find answers to questions the teens are wrestling with and to equip them to live out the values of faith, hope and love.

Young Leadership Team - Each year several teens who have demonstrated maturity and Christian character are invited to receive additional leadership training and to be mentored by Urban Hope staff. During spring break each year, these young leaders take a tour of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as well as of black-owned businesses and churches where they put their public speaking skills into practice.
Neighborhood Sports Teams - Urban Hope sponsors several basketball teams in the Durham Parks and Recreation league. The teams provide effective ways to build identity and self-esteem amongst the youth participants. The teams also foster neighborhood unity and solidarity as parents and families rally to support the youth.

Tutoring - Urban Hope provides volunteers to tutor elementary age students in the After-School Program at Carter Community School in Walltown.


The Urban Hope Summer Camp-

Since 2003, the Navigators have sponsored the Urban Hope Summer Camp. For seven weeks each summer the camp serves 30-40 youth in grades 5-12 who primarily reside in Walltown. The camp has five focuses: entrepreneurship and career development, leadership development, spiritual development, recreation, and financial literacy. We maintain a ratio of one counselor to four campers and we recruit the counselors from campus ministries across the nation as well as from the neighborhood. This gives the youth the opportunity to interact with spiritually mature adults from various backgrounds who respect, care for and believe in them. The lives of the campers and the counselors are transformed through the friendships that are established.