Be the Change: Bennie Hope

YOU ARE VALUABLE.
YOU ARE IMPORTANT.
YOU ARE EQUAL.
YOU ARE WORTHY.

How might your life change if you held these beliefs about yourself? What decisions might you make differently from this perspective?

Bennie Hope, founder and CEO of California Youth Partnership (CYP), uses these statements to help North State youth form a new view of themselves. With VIEW (valuable, important, equal, worthy) in mind, young people can make confidence-based choices instead of acting out of fear. Under Bennie’s direction, CYP helps Shasta County youth develop healthy personal lives, healthy relationships and healthy life skills for their future.

Standing in the Gap

Bennie’s interest in education has carried her through a special education specialist credential, a multiple-subject credential and a master’s in education. “I feel like my niche is standing in the gap for those who can’t stand for themselves,” Bennie says. “I’m always asking, ‘Who is not being served? Who has the most challenges?’”

CYP is Bennie’s response to some of the greatest challenges for today’s youth: social, emotional, relational and mental health. “Schools have to meet so many mandates academically that developing relationship skills is not usually on the top of the totem pole,” Bennie observes. Through CYP, Bennie and her team help youth identify their unique personalities and understand how different circumstances display healthy and unhealthy aspects of their personalities. CYP empowers students to understand their ability and responsibility to make optimal choices. As youth become more aware of themselves, they also learn about interacting with peers and adults, gaining life skills that help them seek healthier relationships and situations.

Since founding CYP in 2018, Bennie has worked diligently to secure grants that allow Shasta County schools to access this powerful programming for free. The more students participate, the more positive feedback Bennie and her team hear, such as, “My family fights all the time, and this class helped me understand my parents. Now we’re using some of the tools and we’re getting along so much better.” CYP, Bennie explains, helps students “see that no family is perfect. Every family has negative and positive baggage, and you get to choose which you move forward with.”

A Mentor for Other Women

Outside of running an organization, Bennie enjoys spending time with her three young adult children, personally mentoring others and journaling on her monthly camping trips. She also makes time for spontaneous fun, such as line dancing with friends like Tiffany Williams, a former co-worker at a nonprofit before CYP. “As a woman with a strong personality who enjoys working and being a mom,” Tiffany says, “Bennie encouraged me that I can thrive in my work scenario and also be a really good mom who is present with my kids. It’s hard to find women who model that, and Bennie does it so well.”

Tiffany also describes Bennie’s ability to tailor any conversation to the needs and interests of every person, from children, to parents, to co-workers. “She’s just so good at knowing what to say,” Tiffany says. “She always makes people feel included in the conversation, and when you talk with her, she’s locked in; she doesn’t get distracted; she’s very caring.”

Polly Price met Bennie through an organization supporting victims of human trafficking and violence. Despite the serious nature of their meeting, the six years since then have helped Polly see how Bennie engages with the serious and the fun sides of life. “Bennie is a really good cook, she plays instruments, she’s an artist and she speaks several languages, and she’s just an amazing person,” Polly says. “When I think of Bennie, I just see her laughing. Time with her is heart-to-heart. Sometimes it’s tears, but she’s a very joyful person too, and it’s just fun laughing and hanging out and talking.”

Healing through Listening

Through her research, Bennie has come to believe that much of the social-emotional, relational and mental health crises for youth stems from what she calls “motherlessness and fatherlessness” – the lack of nurturing, protecting adult relationships. To help North State youth today, Bennie gives this practical advice: “Listen. We would probably heal so many children if we just took time to sit with them and let them tell their story. If every adult could give full attention to a kid, let that kid feel accepted and safe to share what is happening inside of them – that’s what mothering and fathering is about. You don’t have to be their mother or father; you don’t have to be a parent at all. Everyone can do it. Just show that you care; that you are with them and that you believe in them by taking the time to listen to them.”