HOPE-Informed Organizational Certification
Transform your organization with the HOPE framework
The HOPE-Informed Organizational Certification reshapes care and service delivery in ways that enable child- and family-serving organizations to better accomplish their missions of improving the lives of the children and families.
The Certification is based on the HOPE framework, which is grounded in research showing that positive childhood experiences (PCEs) support healthy development and help lessen the lifelong effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). In adopting the HOPE framework, service delivery organizations and care providers consistently identify, honor, and promote child and family strengths.
As of March 2025, we trained over 15+ HOPE-Inspired organizations and 3 HOPE-Informed organizations in 12 U.S. states.
Why become a HOPE-Informed organization?
Enhance families’ experiences of care at your organization
- Increase equitable access to PCEs for children and families you serve
- Increase families’ satisfaction and reduce families’ experiences of bias in the care they receive
- Increase family retention rates in the services you provide
Increase your organization’s relationship with the community
- Create meaningful ways for community members to engage with your organization
- Ensure your services are culturally relevant and meet your community’s needs.
- Gain recognition for your family-centered approval
Promote a healthy internal culture within your organization
- Incorporate the HOPE framework into your organization’s culture
- Increase staff retention and job satisfaction
- Engage your staff with the reasons why they chose your organization’s work
When HOPE-Informed organizations implement the HOPE framework, they:
- Prioritize family strengths and resilience
- Provide anti-racist and culturally resonant care
- Create and promote positive childhood experiences
- Practice continuous learning and improvement
- Invest in creating a more cohesive, happy workforce
Hear from HOPE-Informed Organizations
How can your organization become certified as HOPE-Informed?
Kickoff session
Schedule a kickoff call with the HOPE team to discuss the Certification process and your organizational goals.
Work through your checklist
After your kickoff call, you will receive a checklist and associated workbook to help guide you through certification.
Meet quarterly
You will set up quarterly check-ins with the HOPE team to support your efforts.
Send Champion to office hours
Once you have an internal HOPE Champion, send them to HOPE’s monthly office hours for ongoing support as needed.
Is your organization ready to become HOPE-Informed?
Each organization must partner with at least one HOPE Champion during the course of the certification. While we encourage you to train one of your staff as a HOPE Champion to ensure internal sustainability, you may also contract with a certified HOPE Champion outside your organization.
Organizational Certification timing varies depending on several factors. Organizations are encouraged to begin the process at any phase of their HOPE journey. If your organization has already trained staff as Facilitators and Champions, you’ll be ahead of the curve. If you’re brand new to HOPE, that’s ok! We’ll walk you through all the steps. For organizations who are just beginning on their HOPE journey, your path to certification may take four to six months; for those who are further along, it might only take three months.
The Organizational Certification costs $10,000. This includes the cost of training one Facilitator and one Champion. If you already have one Facilitator and one Champion trained, the cost is $7500.
Scholarships are available upon request. Please reach out to us for more information.
Start your HOPE-Informed journey
FAQ
The HOPE-Informed Organizational Certification program transitions organizations from talking about broad concepts like health equity and trauma-informed care to implementing specific actions to achieve these goals and publicly declaring their intentions and accomplishments. As a HOPE-Informed organization, you can:
- Improve health equity
- Improve service quality and delivery
- Align with trauma-informed care work
- Increaser staff engagement and prevent burnout
- Open new partnerships opportunities
- Attract funders to drive growth and pact
We offer online courses that introduce you to the research behind positive childhood experiences (PCEs), the HOPE framework and the Four Building Blocks of HOPE, and what the HOPE framework looks like in practice.
The HOPE team also offers in-person and virtual presentations and workshops for organizations. You can request a variety of options based on activities, topics covered, duration, and speakers. Contact us to learn more.
The HOPE-Informed Organizational Certification and the HOPE framework build on the strengths-based models organizations currently use, such as Strengthening Families, Early Relational Health, the Basics, and DULCE. The HOPE framework can be integrated into and build on the work an organization is already doing to enable it to provide more comprehensive and consistent strengths-based care and services.
We use the TRIADS model to link ACEs and the HOPE framework. Research shows that positive childhood experiences (PCEs) drive healthy development and lessen the lifelong effects of ACEs. Organizations that screen for ACEs and are HOPE-Informed have reported that ACE screening and the HOPE framework complement each other. The HOPE framework provides an actionable way for direct service providers to follow-up on ACEs screenings to build on families’ existing strengths and protective factors, and a way to integrate PCEs into service plans for children and families.
In other words, when ACEs exposures are identified, the HOPE framework can guide healing.
Your HOPE-Informed checklist and associated workbook will help guide you through the certification process. Your checklist will be customized to fit your organization’s needs. Here are samples from a direct-service provider, an organization that does not serve families directly, and an organization that provides funding to others.
Nothing! We’ll walk you through the process from the very beginning.