Our 40-year legacy
One neighborhood. Adults who stayed.
This is not a list of programs. It is the story of people who moved into East Palo Alto, grew up with the kids here, and kept the door open, year after hard year — a story that is still being written on Beech Street today.
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1983–87
They did not commute in. They moved in.
Inspired by civil-rights leader Dr. John Perkins, Stanford students chose East Palo Alto's children as their focus. Thirteen of them launched seven neighborhood Bible clubs. By 1987 Bayshore Christian Ministries was a nonprofit, three staff had raised the first $40,000 budget, and scholarship help had begun, because staying would take more than good intentions.
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1988–92
The kids grew. So did the work.
High School Fellowship began so teenagers had a place to belong. Summer learning and job fairs opened doors after school years ended. The first alum came back on staff, proof that the dream of leaders from within the community was already taking root. Students published the EPA Gazette, built THREADS for neighbors in need, and learned to swim in pools neighbors opened for them, even as the city lived through frightening years.
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1993–97
From afterschool to a future they could see.
Tutoring, dinner, and fellowship wrapped around the school day. Summer programs doubled so younger siblings could come too. Teens earned job skills, high school credit, and real paychecks through TeenWorks, Youth Connection, and SWIFT. The work had outgrown borrowed rooms, and a capital campaign began so East Palo Alto's youth would have a home built for them.
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1998–2002
A home on Beech Street. Still home today.
The acre was purchased. Programs moved into 1001 Beech Street. Alumni joined the staff. The first college scholarship went out. Streetworkz gathered grades 7 through 12 each week, and Internships for Christian Leaders invited college students of color from across the country to learn urban ministry by serving the kids who already called this place home.
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2003–07
Teenagers found a stage, and a voice.
Middle schoolers and high schoolers had ministries of their own in StreetWorkz and Youth of Truth. College teams came on spring break. SummerWorks students earned CPR certification and recorded music. The step team took the show to partner churches, and BayUp brought InterVarsity servants for the summer, because joy and skill belong in the same room as homework.
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2008–12
The baton passed. The mission deepened.
After more than 24 years, founder Andrew Hartwell passed leadership to Rolando Zeledon. Bible clubs relaunched across the neighborhood. Summer LEAD partnered with local youth groups so high schoolers could lead, work, and grow in faith together. EPA Fellows launched for recent graduates exploring ministry, and 15 college scholarships went to local youth who had grown up in the work.
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2013–17
East Palo Alto kids built what the world noticed.
STEAM arrived through Teens N Tech and Create Academy. EPA Chica Squad placed in the top 20 of the Technovation Challenge and was featured in Google's Made With Code. First Lego League took the floor. LIT mentorship walked with high schoolers, and the building was shared with Oxford Day Academy, because the next generation was already inventing the future from Beech Street.
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2018–21
When the world shut down, the door stayed open.
Eighth graders stepped into leadership on the StreetWorkz team. The first First Robotics Competition team took the field. The Field of Hope rose beside the building and was inaugurated in 2021. Through the pandemic, programs held steady, because the kids still needed a place that would not disappear when everything else did.
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2022
The open door got a name: Hope Horizon.
Bayshore Christian Ministries became Hope Horizon East Palo Alto. Same street. Same staff who stayed. A name that says what decades of showing up had already proven: every student here is made for hope, opportunity, and a future.
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Today
The door is still open. The neighborhood still knows where to find us.
At 1001 Beech Street, caring adults still walk with East Palo Alto kids through afterschool tutoring, robotics, camp, mentorship, spiritual life, and Open Door Scholarships into college. Faith is offered, never required. Families of every background are welcome. The work that began with seven Bible clubs continues — one student, one relationship, one open door at a time.
