NEW HOPE CAMP INC
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Mission Statement
New Hope Oklahoma is a Tulsa-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing services to children with parents in prison. Our programs consist of after school and community programs, summer camps, weekend retreats, family gatherings, and case management services. New Hope's mission is to end generational incarceration, one child at a time. We interrupt the cycle of generational crime and incarceration by teaching children of incarcerated parents to become positive, productive, and contributing members of society.
About This Cause
New Hope has been providing services to Oklahoma children who have a parent in prison since 1992 when a few volunteers doing work with inmates at correctional institutions realized that a primary concern of prisoners was the children they left behind. To meet the need for positive experiences for these children, those volunteers provided three days of camp to a handful of children that summer. The critical need for our programs has grown year after year in Oklahoma, which currently holds one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation. Over the past 22 years, our programs have greatly expanded to include after school and community programs, support groups, weekend retreats, family gatherings, and case management services. All children served by New Hope have a parent in prison, and this fact alone makes these children severely at-risk, as documented by numerous studies (Murray & Farrington, 2005; Schlafer & Poelmann, 2010, Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth, 2012). In our fiscal year ending August 30, 2014, New Hope provided services to 416 children who have a parent in prison. Of these, 343 responded to the race/ethnicity question on their application and identified themselves as follows: 157 (45.77%) as African American; 113 (32.95%) as white; 19 (5.54%) as Native American; and 7 (2.04%) as Hispanic. 47 children (13.70%) selected two or more racial/ethic backgrounds. 97% of New Hope clients live in poverty. Oklahoma has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation. The report issued by the Oklahoma Children of Incarcerated Parents Task Force stated that more than 26,000 children in Oklahoma on any given day have a parent in prison. These children have increased problems compared to peers, “including school challenges, attachment disorders, behavioral problems, criminal activity, physical health problems, and substance abuse.” A previous study concluded that Oklahoma children who have a parent in prison are five times more likely to enter prison themselves than are their peers. Our state has a societal problem because these at-risk children may never become productive and healthy members of society. Each individual child faces the numerous issues described by the task force’s statement. New Hope aims to end the societal problem of generational incarceration by helping one child at a time meet his or her challenges, and every day at New Hope we are doing just that. This May more New Hope children than ever before graduated from high school, nine of whom were the first in their families to earn a high school diploma. Six years go New Hope began offering after-school programs in the Tulsa area, and nearly 200 children have attend these programs this year after year. New Hope’s offerings consist of 12 groups of children ages 5 through 18 held at Trinity Episcopal Church downtown, and 14 school-based groups in elementary schools in Tulsa Public Schools, Broken Arrow Public Schools, and Union Public Schools. These programs were developed to provide the stability of year round services for our children. After- school programs offer children of prisoners support groups using evidence-based curricula, tutoring, ACT preparation, arts enrichment, recreational enrichment, financial literacy, and sex education. Studies show that the hours after school between 3 and 6 p.m. are the peak hours for juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and sex. This statistic coupled with the well- documented benefits of child and youth participation in after-school programs present a strong case for the need of New Hope’s after-school programs. Our goal is for young people who participate in New Hope programs to be affected in four general categories of outcomes: new life skills including anger management and conflict resolution, positive adults, social and emotional development, and connectedness to school. The overall goal for the after school and community based programs is to provide the tools needed to make positive decisions that will put the children on the path to success and defy the odds of becoming a future incarcerated Oklahoman. Using paired t-tests for outcome measurement, New Hope has found that across demographic differences children who spend one year in our after-school programs see increases in social and emotional development, connectedness to school, and statistically significant increases in hope (OU Center of Applied Research for Non-Profit Organizations, 2013). A Child’s Path Through New Hope Johnny attends New Hope's after-school programs twice weekly, is eight years old, and is an example of a child who has the therapeutic opportunity to share his struggles with peers and mentors who understand at New Hope. This year he told his support group, "I wish my dad wasn't in prison. He has to eat gross food and is in a very little room all the time...He can't read me stories anymore or play with me. I miss him a whole, whole lot...I like New Hope because I get to be me and it's fun." Johnny wakes up screaming with night terrors and was recently kicked out of elementary school for anger issues. His mother indicates that he has shown marked improvement in terms of negative externalized behaviors after only ten months in our program. Johnny participates in our after-school group at his school every Thursday, and he joins us for community-based programs on Mondays. We transport him to programs at 2:45 where he participates in homework assistance and arts enrichment. At 5:00, he attends a group led by a social worker, at 6:00 he enjoys dinner, and at 6:45 New Hope transports him home. Johnny also attended summer camp this year, received holiday gifts, and through our case management program, New Hope referred Johnny’s mother to an agency that helped her obtain employment. At New Hope, we do not want to be another agency that gives Johnny a backpack or sees Johnny once a month. Our goal is to retain Johnny until he graduates from high school, to provide weekly support for Johnny and his family as they navigate through the difficulties associated with incarceration and poverty, and to remain a constant, positive force in Johnny’s life in the midst of so many inconsistencies.