We see the future of our community being built one child and one family at time. Each moment spent and act of love poured out is an investment in the future Hope of our city. Our campus started on this corner but our love has grown across St. Landry Parish, and we’ve just started. Join our movement because -LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING.
When we began HFO in 2008 I remember Reggie Dupre, the President of our Board saying, “Starting an organization is like launching to the moon, the hardest part is the first 8 feet. You’ve got to overcome gravity.”
A work like HFO has so many different natural elements attempting to pull it down. Working with children living in poverty, hopelessness that plagues our people, raising funds for our operations annually, finding and keeping good staff.
With a growing student and waiting list, dedicated staff members, involved families, and committed funders, we know that HFO has become an integral part of our community. I hope the stories and statistics you read here will encourage and inspire you. Thanks for your partnership and continue to pray for our efforts.
Education is a big part of what we do at HFO. Why? Well in a parish with a 69.0 performance score out of an 88.5 statewide average, we know education will open doors. While our kids may not have a choice but to attend D-rated schools - we work with our students to make the grade in school so they can succeed in life.
To better understand how we are helping our students, we track reading fluency & benchmark levels of our 1st-5th graders at several points throughout the year.
Our time with students focuses on reading remediation, homework help and math remediation. Other elements of our program include parent participation, enrichment trips & one-on-one mentoring.
Scores for all students in the progress 1st-12th grades showed progress throughout the school year with graduation of all seniors and passing of all classes by our students.
Provides a year-to-year at a glance of two data points:
% students passing all classes (in red) this number takes into account all students in the program each school year. NOTE: 1st-3rd grades were added into the program before in the summer of 2018.
% of students who demonstrated significant improvement in reading fluency (in blue) this number accounts for 3rd-5th grade scores from 2013 through the 2017/2018 school year and 1st-5th grade for the 2018/2019 school year. As expected, with the addition of new students significant improvement was not expected initially.
Opelousas (pop. 16,323), the parish seat of St. Landry Parish (pop. 83,497) is located in south central Louisiana about 2.5 hours from New Orleans. With 45.2% of our city’s citizens living in poverty, we work to provide wrap around services to kids in our community to stop this cycle. It is through educational support, mentorship and family services that the HFO family of students, parents and staff stand out in our community as leaders and examples for others.
Hope for Opelousas is known by the people of Opelousas at-large by the brightly colored houses in which we operate. As members of "The Hill" neighborhood, HFO has made a larger, brighter mark on our neighbors and friends. With the help of our staff, our kids and our visiting mission teams, HFO has helped paint and repair many of our neighbors homes. We strive through our people and our physical presence to be a shining light in the city of Opelousas.
Hope for Opelousas is a non-profit outreach organization rooted in the belief that God loves Opelousas and that His love changes everything. Through enrichment programming for youth and families, and providing opportunities for people to serve one another, we are working to stop the cycle of poverty.
Our vision is to see a new generation of young people become empowered individuals taking ownership for their futures and the collective future of our community.
It is our belief that God has gone before us, and by engaging in the struggle of love we are changed as individuals and can work towards restoration of others.
What relationships have had the most profound positive affect on your life?
I would bet the answer would be something like; that time I was forgiven, that time someone stood up for me and didn’t have to, that person who committed to me for no other reason then they loved me.
Our HFO kids may think we are simply about homework, or a safe place to hang out, but we hope they are learning much more than how to become better students. During tutoring, football games, and van rides, we work to showcase the counter-cultural message of love.
We stress long-term because as any parent knows ups and downs are part of the process, it’s commitment through these that set the stage for progress and deep relationships.
We hope you will visit the brightly colored homes on E. Madison Street to see what we are talking about- the change, the love and the positivity in the air is palpable!
