Hope for the Future Starts Today

Your support and contributions will enable us to work towards our mission of helping youth become self-sufficient.
YouthHope Foundation is an independent, certified 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The organization was established in 2009 to build confidence and promote self-sufficiency for homeless, runaway, and at-risk youth, ages 14-24, by providing trust, hope, support, and education. YouthHope was established to provide a support system for youth in a safe and caring environment so they may grow to be healthy, self-sustaining adults.
Mrs. Heidi Mayer is the Founder and the Executive Director of YouthHope. Mrs. Mayer first experienced homeless outreach programs in 2003 while chaperoning a mission trip to the West Coast cities of San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. She visited dozens of shelters, drop-in centers, and outreach providers in a variety of settings. Mrs. Mayer found her heart changed by the abused and neglected homeless, runaway, and under-served youth whom she met and served. She realized that she could no longer sit on the sidelines knowing that there were thousands of youth who were abused, neglected, and going hungry every day.
The target population served by the YouthHope Foundation is one of the communities' most vulnerable. Many of the youth we serve are victims of insufficient family structure, aging out of the foster care system, drug addiction, and homelessness. YouthHope case managers recently surveyed 717 of the youth attendees. Of these,
45% were homeless and living on the streets,
26% were abused as young children,
14% were in the foster care system,
29% have parents with drug or alcohol substance abuse problems, and
89% were classified as low income.
YouthHope is located in Redlands, California and provides services to youth residing in the City of Redlands and from the surrounding areas of the Inland Empire. According to the California Homeless Youth Project, more than 33,000 youth in San Bernardino County are classified as homeless and can be found living on the streets, couch-surfing, or lacking adequate night-time residence.
In 2019, YouthHope saw the following successes:
Since 2009, YouthHope has served over 4,000 different youth.
In 2020, YouthHope changed the way we served our community because of COVID and we were able to help in the following ways:
We understand that YouthHope has an obligation to provide a safe workplace for employees, volunteers and our youth. We will be taking the following steps to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
· Symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are a cough, a high temperature and shortness of breath. Simple measures like washing your hands often with soap and water can help stop viruses like coronavirus (COVID-19) spreading. There’s no specific treatment for coronavirus (COVID-19). Treatment aims to relieve the symptoms until you recover. It's not known exactly how coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads from person to person, but similar viruses are spread in cough droplets. At this time the CDC believes symptoms appear within two to fourteen days after exposure, with some infected individuals showing little to no signs.
· We are providing hand sanitizer and hand washing stations, facial tissues and encourage all employees/volunteers to wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds; we will continue to clean and disinfect touched objects and surfaces frequently.
· We are minimizing unnecessary risk by making “to go” food for our youth and meeting with them outdoors. We will not be accepting clothing donations until further notice. We will be providing the same services, staying open the same hours but taking the precautions listed above.
· Sick employees/volunteers are asked not to come to YouthHope until they are well.
· Please understand if you are at-risk we want you to stay home until you feel it is safe to return to YouthHope.