It takes a village to raise a child, serve families, and transform a community. 

We serve children, families, and the community by breaking down the barriers to economic success. Through collaboration, engagement, advocacy, research, and innovation, HCV offers a continuum of programs and direct services for children and families to address the complex challenges facing Homewood’s youth.

Who can participate?

Most of our services are geared towards individuals and families who live, learn, work, and worship in the Homewood community. We also offer programs that extend city- and county-wide as well; however, there are times when some programs and services are limited to residents or students of Homewood and surrounding communities.

Advocates:

HCV Advocates provide ongoing holistic support to children and families, connecting them to high-quality programs and services. While the Advocate’s primary role is to help students succeed in school and life, Advocates also provide ongoing support to families of the youth they work with by connecting them to high-quality programs and services to support their well-being and stability.

HCV AmeriCorps:

HCV AmeriCorps Members provide 10,000+ hours of in-school and after-school support to Homewood youth to help build academic and social-emotional skills.  Members also contribute to the broader school community through service projects.

College & Career Readiness:

Provide in-school, after-school, and summer programming for middle and high school students to promote college and career readiness and overall postsecondary success. Programming includes project-based learning, workforce readiness, college tours, academic enrichment, and postsecondary planning.

Family Programming:

The child, parent, and community intersect with our two-generation (2Gen) approach to building strong families and communities. We believe families need comprehensive support to create a legacy of educational and economic success. Therefore, we provide programs and resources that promote emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual development and wellness. HCV helps strengthen families by offering parenting support, workforce development, cooking, and nutrition classes, food distribution, basic needs support, and hosting events that facilitate family activities, enrichment, and fellowship.

The Leadership Institute:

The Leadership Institute (TLI) is a community-directed leadership program focusing on relevant community and civic topics. Utilizing a community empowerment framework, TLI participants address issues such as sustainability, education, equity, environmental justice, gentrification, and public health and are activated toward community change.

Community Events:

The Community Dinners, HCV Holiday Party, turkey giveaways, toy drives, and student showcases impact our work by providing opportunities for participant recruitment, resource-sharing for families and the community, and gathering insights.

Community Schools:

HCV manages three Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) in Homewood: Westinghouse 6-12, Faison K-5, and Lincoln PreK-5. HCV Site staff coordinates services of partner organizations, connecting school staff, partnering programs and services, and the youth and families they serve and supports in-and-out-of-school activities, tutors, social work interns, and partner services.

Collective Impact:

HCV works to convene partners and coordinate services to maximize impact for children, families, and the community at large. HCV convenes partners for our Homewood Cradle-to-Career Initiative, and our CEO serves on the board of the Homewood Community Development Collaborative (HCDC).

Research & Evaluation:

Research has been a core function of the Homewood Children’s Village from the very beginning. Our team ensures that programs and services are measured, assessed, and informed by evidence. Our Office of Research & Evaluation (ORE) team tracks and analyzes the impacts of our core services, the effectiveness of our organizational infrastructure, and the performance of our partnerships. The results of these analyses are looped back into program design and development, allowing for continual growth.

Through ORE, we build a keen understanding of the complex conditions and barriers that our community faces. This knowledge is infused into our programs and is a foundation for advocacy toward systems-level changes. We continue to share our learning with the broader community by engaging in community-based participatory research, equipping our residents with research methods and principles to own and benefit from this shared learning process. Finally, our research team provides consultation services to our peers and partners. By offering their valuable skills to analyze programmatic data and support planning efforts, we ensure strong partnerships that strengthen the seamless support system created for our children and families.

Innovation:

Whether small and incremental or radical and disruptive, HCV has always taken innovative approaches to address our community’s challenges. HCV is currently focused on two flagship innovation projects: SMART Dreams Personal Opportunity Planner (POP) and the Village Research & Action Institute. HCV aims to take both projects to market to hopefully net a triple bottom line, expanding our capacity for social impact, increasing sustainable revenue for HCV, and positively impacting the environment.