• give teens experience solving problems and working together in a structured environment
• develop their social and leadership skills
• connect youth to mentors who can serve as role models for leadership in their lives
• give teens an outlet to discuss and a support structure to deal with issues of substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and other potential risks in their lives
• gain workplace experience

A Youth Counselor, working under the Executive Director, connects young people to opportunities for academic, artistic, musical, athletic, and political enrichment. The Counselor solicits applications for the Employment and Leadership Academy from young people through their schools, recruitment from community leaders and word of mouth.

Participants engage in both a community service team project and individual internship or employment opportunity. The teens, with guidance from the Youth Counselor, select a service-oriented project, such as developing a public service announcement for local radio or helping to rehabilitate an area building, and then work through all stages from initial planning to final self-evaluation.

Teens are matched with a mentor, based on common interests. Hope Village recognizes that for many youth, this mentoring opportunity must be within the context of a part-time job, due to family financial considerations. Youth have been matched with mentors through Casey Family Services, Radio One Internship Program, and the Yo! Program. Hope Village will seek to recruit mentors from the following organizations: East Harbor Village Center, South East Community Organization, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Citizens for Washington Hill, local businesses, the office of Representative Elijah Cummings and the office of Representative Elijah Cummings and the office of Mayor Martin O'Malley. Mentors meet with teens at least twice per month. If the mentorship relationship is successful, teens may work as summer interns at their mentor's organization. During the summer, teens work for four days per week and then reconvene on Friday to take a group field trip to various educationally and culturally enriching area sites.