Programs and Services

United Way of Wythe County

Twin County United Way

PROUD PARTNER
 

About HOPE

Our History

Helping Overcome Poverty’s Existence, Inc. (HOPE) was incorporated in 1993 with a primary mission of fulfilling the challenge of its name—to reduce the conditions contributing to poverty in southwest Virginia. Mountain Shelter, Inc. (MSI) was incorporated in 1992 with a primary mission of enabling lower income and disadvantaged families to achieve solutions for sustaining affordable housing. In July 2007, HOPE and MSI merged into one entity and maintained the name HOPE. A vision to bring about new and creative delivery of services was adopted resulting in a bigger impact on our clients and local communities.

Click here for HOPE's IRS tax-exempt certification (pdf).
Click here for HOPE's IRS Form 990 tax return for year ending June 30, 2009 (pdf).
Click here for HOPE's audited financial statements for years ending June 30, 2009 and 2008 (pdf).

Our Mission

HOPE is a human services organization facilitating initiatives and coordinating services aimed at improving the overall well-being of individuals and families by providing the tools necessary to increase self-sufficiency, promote healthy lifestyles and enhance quality of life.

Our Service Area

HOPE serves the counties of Wythe, Bland, Smyth, Carroll and Grayson and the City of Galax in southwest Virginia.

Board of Directors

HOPE is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors that provides invaluable oversight, guidance and fiduciary responsibility. In addition to community representatives, HOPE is proud to involve program recipients on the Board to assist in its planning work. As a certified Virginia Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO), one-third of the Board represents a low income community.

Following the merger of HOPE and MSI, the new Board of Directors recognized that it would benefit from outside facilitation of a new strategic plan. Through a successful application to the Wythe-Bland Community Foundation in August 2007, HOPE contracted with Virginia Tech professors Mary Ellen Verdu and Jim Bohland to conduct a needs assessment of human services in the Wythe and Bland county communities.  After completion of the assessment, Verdu and Boland led the Board of Directors in a strategic planning session from which new goals and objectives emerged to guide the transformative work of HOPE for the next several years.

Click here for the 2008 Human Services Needs Assessment (pdf).
Click here for the 2009 Strategic Plan (pdf).