KIDS HOPE USA is a national mentoring program which partners a church with a local school.
Members from the church congregation are recruited, screened, and trained to become
mentors. Each mentor is then matched with a child who has been recommended to the program
by the school staff. The mentors go to the school for one hour each week to work with their
students. Behind each relationship is a prayer partner who holds the mentor/child up in prayer.

Since 2009, our church has participated in the KIDS HOPE USA mentoring program.
We are currently partnered with Whitney Elementary School and members of our congregation
are actively mentoring students at Whitney and are supported by their prayer partners.
Occasionally, social events for mentors, prayer partners, and students are planned.
KIDS HOPE USA is committed to befriending the mentees and their families.

In 2025, our ministry expanded through KIDS HOPE USA NEXT to include a partnership with
Strongsville Middle School. This expansion allowed us to extend our reach to older students
during a critical period of transition, providing consistent mentorship, encouragement, and
support to help meet their academic, social, and emotional needs.

Both programs follow the model of the national KIDS HOPE USA organization:
one child, one church, one school, one hour.

One Child
The children in our program need someone who can be present at a critical time in their lives
when values are formed, when self-esteem is developed, and when basic academic and
problem-solving skills are acquired. Our mentors show up every week. They don’t let their
students down. Mentors spend time reading, talking, listening, and playing games with their
students. Their friendship supports the students’ social, academic, and emotional needs.

One Church
KIDS HOPE USA provides a new way for our church members to serve their community.
Many churches now realize that their local communities are the places where they can make a
difference – not by donating material goods alone but also by actually engaging in life-changing
one-on-one relationships with children.
Reggie McNeal, author of Missional Renaissance, states that when trying to connect to the
community, nothing does that quicker than adopting a school, and nobody knows how to help
with that better than KIDS HOPE USA.
KIDS HOPE USA has provided a pathway into serving our community.

One School
Our KIDS HOPE USA partnership with Whitney Elementary provides a proven intervention
for students, resulting in significant changes of attitude and behavior as well as academic
performance, at no cost to the school.
While mentors are to model “Jesus with skin on” with their behavior, they also strictly adhere to
the separation of church and state while at the school