Hope Village for Children
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Hope Village, a place where hope is born, is celebrating their 20th Anniversary this year! Founded in 2001 by 2 time Emmy Award winner and Meridian Native, Sela Ward, Hope Village provides a group home for children from birth to the age of 20. In 1997, Ward and her husband Howard were visiting Meridian’s Peavey house and learned that children in the foster care system were often separated from their siblings, thus, the idea for Hope Village was born. The current facility has housed children for over 100 years, initially as the Masonic Home for Boys and Girls and now as Hope Village for Children. Hope Village provides a short term home, longer term group homes, and transitional homes. The transitional home offers a home for foster children that turn 18 and provides them the opportunity to work or attend college, helping them transition from foster care into the real world. They have a full team of social workers and work to recruit and train new foster families for children. Tutoring is offered to all residents to help ensure academic success in school. Last school year, 100% of the residents passed onto the next grade in school, a proud statistic.
Hope Village is more than just a place for children in foster care, they are in the business of relationship building, and building a bond with each and every child that comes to them. To this day, Sela is still incredibly involved with Hope Village, constantly visiting the residents, and even working throughout quarantine to renovate one of the group homes for girls. When fully staffed, Hope Village has over 80 employees working with residents daily and they recently received a 3 year accreditation from CARF on their first time applying for it, which is the highest designation possible. Hope Village is a member of the chamber because as a member of the community, supporting the Chamber of Commerce and the EMBDC is the best way to help the community grow.
The community of Meridian has been incredibly supportive of Hope Village, not only financially, but also helping out in various other ways. Members of the community come together to help try and make life for Hope Village residents as normal as possible, with a 40-50 volunteer guild planning events for residents, including Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and much more. A private donor also sponsored summer trips to Disney World for residents a few years back so that residents had the same summer adventures as their peers in school. Executive Director, Tina Aycock, says, hearing back from children who have gone on and are grateful for the experiences and times that they had at Hope Village make it all worth it. “As a social worker, this is absolutely the best job. Getting to see the kids every day and the improvements over a period of time make it all worth it, even though it can be difficult at times. Change doesn’t happen day to day, but being able to see the gradual change in the children that come through here is the most satisfying thing.” The state of Mississippi offers a $500 tax credit per tax payer for individuals who donate to Hope Village. Hope Village also has a thrift store on 8th street that everyone should check out.
Hope Village for Children
2433 23rd Ave, Meridian, MS