Wansheba Lawal has been running The Village of Hope Inc. since 2009. This nonprofit organization has a mission to make a difference by giving hope and promoting those involved in becoming empowered. The nonprofit focuses on serving the area through different programs such as tutoring and enrichment activities.
As an educator, Lawal was motivated to create this safe space and a community that would foster youth to set them up for success. Lawal was involved in similar programs when she was a child, growing up in the Milwaukee area.
She says what motivated her was “growing up in the inner city. I participated in programs just like this. And so because of the influence that it made on my life, where I was able to graduate from high school, trying not to get involved in drugs, graduate college and get a teaching degree, get a master’s degree, I decided I wanted to give that to others in the area.”
The Village of Hope Inc. Expands
The nonprofit organization first started by only assisting girls. However, recently the program shifted and expanded. The Village of Hope Inc. now caters to the needs of both boys and girls. The pandemic resulted in this positive change.
Lawal says, “there were so many kids that were out, either doing virtual learning and they were missing out on academic support, but then we opened it up, and so now that’s kind of what we do, is provide the after school and summer programs for boys and girls.”
It Takes A Village
The Village of Hope Inc. works with children from various backgrounds throughout their programs. They are funded by small grants, but most importantly through the community that believes in the programs.
“They see us out, they see what we’re doing. All those donations add up and allow us to be able to provide the services that we provide.”
Not only is funding sourced from the community, but before having their own building, the community helped host The Village of Hope Inc. programs. Now The Village of Hope Inc. is located at 1650 Russett St.
Programs Provided
The Village of Hope Inc. stands out because of its focus on STEM, cooking, sewing, and other life skills that are taught to school-aged children in the Racine area. The staff is well equipped and provides support also while being able to relate to the participants.
“We want to get our program out to the community so that they can take advantage of the services because we know that kids have missed out on a lot of instruction. Yeah, and we want them to start school in September, we want to provide something for them over the summer so that we can kind of catch them up a little bit and get them prepared to start off a new year fresh,” says the founder, Lawal.
Check out there programs offered here.
This summer, they are open from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information about 262-358-6577 or visiting their website here.
Nonprofits in Racine
To read about more nonprofits in Racine, click here. If you are a nonprofit or business owner in Racine, connect with Emma Widmar by emailing ewidmar@racinecountyeye.com.
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