Learn, help, and hope
Resources & Articles
240 articles. 12 topics. 40 years of watching what actually works for East Palo Alto kids, written down and given away.
These sit alongside the programs they describe. Start with our work if you want the programs themselves.
Start with this one Why Third Grade Is the Year Reading Decides a Life Kids who aren't reading proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely not to graduate on time. Here is why that year decides so much, and what closes the gap. Read it →Start here
If you only read three, read these.
For families
Raising a kid in East Palo Alto, in practical terms.
Parenting in Real Life
Homework, screens, school meetings, and the hard years.
20 articles
Summer That Counts
Why the summer months decide more than most parents realise.
20 articles
The Road to College
First-generation, step by step, from ninth grade to a diploma.
20 articles
Hope & Character
Resilience, belonging, and the long work of growing up.
20 articles
Where They Are Now
Alumni, and what forty years of staying looks like.
20 articles
Programs and research
What we run, and what the evidence says about it.
STEAM & Robotics
Lego League to FRC #8048, and why hands-on STEM sticks.
20 articles
The Volunteer Experience
What tutoring is really like, from people who do it.
20 articles
Smart, Joyful Giving
Giving that works: matching, DAFs, stock, monthly.
20 articles
Partners in the Work
Churches and companies who show up, and how.
20 articles
Every article, A to Z
All 240, alphabetically. No sign-up, no paywall.
A
- A Church's Playbook for Serving the Next Generation
- A Day at Camp Hope Horizon
- A Day in the Life of a Hope Horizon Student
- A Gift in Someone's Honor or Memory
- A New Mentor's Field Guide: Do This, Not That
- A Reading Habit That Survives a Busy Weeknight
- A Robotics Kid, Now an Engineer
- A Robotics Season Teaches More Than Robots
- A Second Family, Right Down the Street
- A Steady Anchor: Mentoring and a Child's Wellbeing
- A Summer That Doesn't Cost a Fortune
- A Tale of Two Cities in Silicon Valley's Shadow
- A Tuesday Afternoon in the Life of a Tutor
- A Tutor Is Half Coach, Half Believer
- A Volunteer Role for Every Skill and Schedule
- Adopt a Robotics Team
- Adopt a Robotics Team: A Company's Best Investment
- Advocate for Your Child Without Doing It All for Them
- Affordable Summer Care That Actually Teaches
- Alumni Advice to the Next Generation
B
C
- Character Is Caught More Than Taught
- Charity or Investment? Why We Think It's Both
- Closing the Digital Divide for EPA Families
- Coding for Kids: A Plain-English Place to Start
- College Isn't the Only Door: Trade, Training, and Two-Year Paths
- College Students: Trade Free Hours for Real Impact
- Confidence Is Built From Small, Real Wins
- Corporate Volunteer Days That Actually Help (Not Just Feel Good)
E
F
- FAFSA Without the Fear: A First-Gen Family's Guide
- Fail, Fix, Repeat: The Best Lesson in Robotics
- Faith and Justice: The Conviction We Started With
- Fed, Safe, and Growing: Care Beyond the Classroom
- Field Trips That Crack a Kid's World Wide Open
- Financial Aid for Parents Who've Never Done This Before
- First-Gen and Thriving: Finding Your People on Campus
- First-Gen Graduates Breaking New Ground
- Forty Years of Simply Showing Up
- Forty Years on One Corner of Beech Street
- Forty Years, and Still Showing Up
- Foundations: Investing in Proven, Local Work
- From First Coffee to Lasting Partnership
- From LEGO to Circuit Boards: How a Kid Falls for STEM
- From Mentee to Mentor: Closing the Loop
- From One-Time Helper to Weekly Regular
- From Struggling Reader to College Writer
- From the Competition Floor to an Engineering Job
- From This Classroom to a College Campus: The Long Walk
- Full Circle: The Mentees Who Came Back to Mentor
G
- Getting Girls Into STEM Before the World Talks Them Out of It
- Getting In Is Half of It. Staying In Is the Rest.
- Getting Your Child Ready for Their First Summer at Camp
- Give Stock, Skip the Capital Gains
- Giving Back as a Way of Life
- Giving Crypto to Hope Horizon
- Graduates Leading in Their Own Communities
- Grit, Grace, and Room to Try Again
H
- Helping a Kid Find What They're For
- Helping a Kid Picture a Future Within Reach
- Helping Kids Carry Big Feelings
- Helping Your Child Set a Goal They'll Actually Keep
- Homework Help vs. Real Tutoring, and Why the Difference Matters
- Hope Is a Skill. It Can Be Taught.
- Hope, Handed Down One Kid at a Time
- Host a Drive Your Community Will Rally Behind
- How a Church Partners With Hope Horizon
- How a Company Can Actually Move the Needle for Local Kids
- How a Mentor Guides the College Search
- How a Mentor Turns Curiosity Into Skill
- How Camp Builds Friendships and Confidence
- How Corporate STEM Volunteers Transform a Robotics Season
- How Kids Fall Behind in Reading, and How They Climb Back
- How One Adult's Full Attention Rebuilds a Reader
- How One Scholarship Rewrote a Family's Story
- How Retirees Find a Whole New Purpose Here
- How to Mentor When Your Own Life Is Full
- How to Pick an Afterschool Program You Can Trust
- How to Talk to Your Child's Teacher and Get Straight Answers
- How to Win Over a Kid Who Says They Hate Reading
- How to Write a Scholarship Essay That Sounds Like You
- How We Honor the Partners Who Show Up
- How We Keep Camp Safe and Full of Growth
- How We Keep Every Kid Safe
I
K
L
M
O
P
R
- Raising a Confident Kid Without a Lot of Money
- Raising Generous Kids
- Read Aloud Ten Minutes a Day. Watch What Happens.
- Reading Is the Key That Opens Every Other Subject
- Resilience Isn't Born. It's Built.
- Resilience Runs Deep on These Streets
- Robotics Is a Confidence Machine
- Rooted in Faith, Open to Everyone
S
- Screens and School: A Balance Real Families Can Keep
- Send a Kid to Camp Who Couldn't Otherwise Go
- Send Your Small Group to Serve
- Senior Year, Month by Month: From Application to Move-In
- Showing Up on the Hard Days, Too
- Six Weeks That Rescue a Whole School Year
- Small and Local Beats Big and Far Away
- Sounds, Speed, Meaning: How a Child Learns to Read
- Sponsor a Program, See Exactly What It Funds
- Staying Grounded Through the College Years
- STEAM in Summer: Learning That Feels Like Play
- Summer Enrichment on a Real Family Budget
- Summer Is When Some Kids Finally Bloom
T
- Talking to Kids About Money, Work, and Big Dreams
- Teaching Kids to Dream Past Their Zip Code
- The "A" in STEAM: Why Creativity Belongs in Science
- The Alumni Quietly Funding the Next Class
- The Alumni Who Came Back to Serve
- The Business Case for Backing Local Kids
- The Careers Hiding Inside a Robotics Kit
- The Churches That Built This Work, and Still Do
- The Costs Nobody Warns You About in College
- The Day a Struggling Reader Says "Watch Me"
- The Doors a Robotics Background Opens
- The Everyday Joy of Being a Sustaining Donor
- The Field of Hope: Where a Neighborhood Gathers
- The First Meeting: Where a Mentorship Begins
- The Gift That Comes Back to You
- The Homework Routine That Finally Sticks
- The Kind of Service That Sticks Around
- The Long Arc of One Decision to Stay
- The Math of Many Small Gifts
- The Mentors Who Stayed for a Decade
- The Neighbors Who Keep Showing Up
- The Open Door Scholarship, Start to Finish
- The Opportunity Gap, in Plain Numbers
- The Partners Investing Right Here at Home
- The People on Our Staff Who Grew Up Here
- The Power of Being Known by Name
- The Quiet Kid in the Back: How to Support an Anxious Child
- The Quiet Power of Giving Monthly
- The Quiet Strength of Gratitude
- The Rent Is High. The Stakes Are Higher.
- The Ripple That Began With One Kid
- The Science of Just Showing Up
- The Skills Your Company Has That We Need
- The Small Wins That Build a Reader
- The Staff Member Who Started as a Camper
- The Summer Slide Is Real. Here's How Kids Beat It.
- The Summer That Became a Turning Point
- The Surprising Thing Mentors Get Back
- The Talent Pipeline Three Miles From Your Office
- The Two Hours After School That Change a Report Card
- The Volunteers You Never See, and Can't Do Without
- The Young People of EPA Are Worth Betting On
- They Don't Need a Professor. They Need Someone Who Made It.
- Trades and Certifications That Pay Well
- Turn Your Birthday Into a Classroom
- Twenty Years In: A Volunteer Looks Back
- Two Languages, One Confident Reader
W
- We Need Your Day Job: Skills-Based Volunteering
- Weekly Beats Grand: Why Consistency Wins
- What a Company Gains When Its People Mentor
- What a Robotics Competition Is Actually Like
- What Alumni Say Mattered Most
- What Belonging Does to a Child's Whole Week
- What Colleges See in a Student From East Palo Alto
- What Counselors Learn by Leading
- What First-Gen Students Wish Someone Had Told Them
- What Is FIRST Robotics, and Why Does It Matter Here?
- What Makes a Great First Day as a Volunteer
- What One Good Question at Dinner Can Do
- What Outsiders Get Wrong About East Palo Alto
- What Volunteers Take Home at the End of the Day
- What Your Congregation Can Do in One Semester
- What Your Gift Funds, Program by Program
- When a Kid Tests You, Trust Is Being Built
- When a Whole Community Shows Up for Its Kids
- When to Worry About Reading, and When to Breathe
- Where Are They Now: The Class That Started It All
- Where Our Earliest Students Are Today
- Where Your Dollar Actually Goes
- Who Calls EPA Home: A Community of Cultures
- Why a Kid Needs Someone Who Looks Like Them
- Why a Quiet Desk Can Change a Kid's Grades
- Why College Students Make the Best Mentors
- Why Community College Is a Smart First Move
- Why Hands Remember What Lectures Forget
- Why Local Giving Beats Giving From a Distance
- Why Our Alumni Never Really Leave
- Why Play Is Serious Learning
- Why Serving Others Grows a Kid Up
- Why So Many Volunteers Stay for Years
- Why Summer Learning Matters More Than You Think
- Why Third Grade Is the Year Reading Decides a Life
- Why Unrestricted Gifts Do the Most Good
- Why We Ask Our Scholars to Come Back
- Why We Keep Our Groups Small on Purpose
- Why We Open Our Books
- Why We Serve Kids Right Where They Are
- Why We Throw a Party for Every Small Win
- Why We'll Never Leave This Zip Code
Y
- Year-End Giving Without the Last-Minute Scramble
- You Don't Have to Be a Superhero to Be a Mentor
- You Don't Need Perfect Grades to Stand Out
- You Were Never Meant to Do This Alone
- Your Child Is Falling Behind. Here's Your First Move.
- Your Employer Might Double Your Gift
- Your First Month as a Volunteer, Start to Finish