Our Mission

Pasadena Hope Community Development Corporation is dedicated to inspiring and improving lives through education, empowerment, and economic development.

Our Values

• Accountability and Transparency - We believe in serving our community with openess, honesty, and intergrity.
• Capacity Focused Development - We focus on the assets individuals and communities already have and build from there instead of merely concentrating on endless needs.
• Family Focus - We support endeavors that nurture, encourage, and build up parents, youth, and children to develop stronger families.
• Education and Empowerment - We invest in educating and enabling people to make a positive difference in their lives and in the lives of others.
• Economic Development - We strive to boost the financial vitality of those communities that have historically been overlooked.
• Community Leadership Development - We seek to develop indigeouness leaders located within our communities and to strengthen their ability to lead courageously and effectively.
• Collaboration and Community Building - We embrace working together with healthy coalitions and parnterships for the good of the greater community.

Our Programs & Services

Pasadena Hope Community Development Corporation is a newly formed organization with program areas that focus on education, empowerment, and economic development with the aim of increasing the capacity of our community. The following are some of the initiatives and programs we seek to develop as we recruit, fundraise, and cultivate caring volunteers and staff to participate in our organization. Our initial programs and services are geared toward assisting young people and their families and will be offered at multiple sites. The activities of each are described below:

Youth Development

After-school programs and summer programs: These will be safe places for children and youth to make positive and constructive use of their time and energy by working with caring adults in engaging activities that develop character, social skills, and life skills.

• Mentoring through the A.R.T.S. (arts and crafts, classes, music classes, photography classes, etc.)
• B.O.S.S. Youth Entrepreneurship Program
• Job-Readiness Training Program
• Youth Employment Program
• College Prep Program
• Boys to Men Program
• Girls to Women Program
• Professional/Voluntary Instructional Resource: A cadre of persons will be trained and supported to lead the above programs. This approach will give the organization greater capacity to meet demand as the program grows.

Leadership Development

• Leadership Seminars and Retreats: A series of training and retreats will be developed to strengthen the capacity of our community leaders to assist in neighborhood planning, community organizing and advocacy work. We will partner with other organizations that have a similar mission.
• Pasadena Teen Leadership Program: A series of seminars and workshops on topics of interest for youth to develop their capacity as young emerging leaders will be offered. The topics will address issues such as personal responsibility, community service, and living in a multicultural society, with the goal of helping to strengthen and transform our communities.
• Community Capacity Building: Conferences, conventions, and forums are a future activity that will be used to develop the capacity of our community to facilitate the establishment of common cause, thus building natural systems of support and continuance of effort. We will also host community asset building workshops.

Empowerment and Economic Development

• Our economic development efforts will provide support, training, and educational materials to specifically assist in increasing the financial vitality of our community, especially in low-income neighborhoods.
  

• Entrepreneurship Incubator

• Home Ownership Seminars
• Financial Management Seminars
• Credit Management Training Program

The above activities will be initiated locally; however, it is the hope of this organization that the above programs can be replicated and spread to other cities and communities.

Our History & Founder

In 2007, Pasadena Hope Community Development Corporation was incorporated as a nonprofit organization located in Pasadena, California. We are dedicated to inspiring and improving lives through education, empowerment, and economic development, especially in Northwest Pasadena.

Rodney D. Walker, the founder, is a graduate of the University of Texas. He has completed a Master of Business Administration degree from Hope International University, and has a Master of Arts degree from Fuller Seminary. Furthermore, he has completed a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University as well as a Certificate from the Passing the Mantle Institute from the University of Southern California. He is the managing director of Walker & Associates, a nonprofit consulting firm, and well understands the dynamics of developing a thriving organization. He is an alumni member of Leadership Austin, a community leadership program, and has served on a number of advisory councils.