“What to expect” video tour!

Our Mission

The Collective for Hope combines the strength of its program brands and co-located services to lead response to loss, elevate the value of grief companionship, and promote healthy survivorship.

Program Brands:

Ted E. Bear Hollow

Grief’s Journey

HEALing Embrace

Our Program Partners:

Band of the Strong, expressive arts for kids in need

Our Vision is that no one has to grieve alone.

We believe everyone should have access to free, competent grief and survivorship support and that our community is made more compassionate, stronger, and resilient as the result of it. To that end, the agency is steadfast in its commitment to improving and expanding its outreach and inclusion work. All services are designed to level the playing field, mitigate vulnerabilities, and foster positive outcomes for all who are grieving.

The Collective for Hope believes we are honoring our agency’s values when:

Safe Place

Program participants, event attendees, donors, volunteers, and staff feel included, listened to, accepted, respected, and protected. Confidentiality, non-judgmental communication, and healthy boundaries are the rule in every category of The Collective for Hope relationship.

Excellence

We foster a learning mentality, set goals, and measure success; our public face (events, marketing, fundraising) mirrors the private support we provide; every staff person and volunteer is prepared to provide warm, competent support; our support responses are consistent and dependable; our outcomes set the standard for agencies like ours nationally; our name is synonymous with our values; we’re recognized as responsive, adaptable, persevering, trustworthy partners.

Companionship

All people feel welcome and that they can find a place for themselves in the organization; family is broadly defined and services reach individuals as well; it’s universally recognized that we’re not here to “fix” but rather to support; when caregivers are given the care they provide; when teamwork is the rule; when we feel free to explore/respond to community requests for grief support that may or may not look like current programming.

Wellness

We safeguard against burn-out /fatigue among program participants, event attendees, donors, volunteers, and staff; when teammates foster/celebrate each other’s expressions of self-care; when Bereavement, PTO, and other policies reflect safety and a healthy work-life balance, when the budget reflects our commitment to professional development, personal growth and financial responsibility; when we make sound decisions about program growth not to exceed capacity; when wellness as it pertains to grieving is extended to the community outside of The Collective for Hope as part of holistic well-being/collective impact.

Leadership

Our work’s relevance and impact is recognized as an integral component of collective impact throughout the region.

Anti-Discrimination

The Collective for Hope does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, religion (creed), gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, maternity, military status, economic status, and all other identities represented in our diverse community.

Why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Matter

The Collective for Hope recognizes that, we, as an organization, cannot separate ourselves from the oppressive systems perpetuating disparities in our community. We further recognize that there are members of our community who have easier access to our services while others have found barriers.

Our commitment

Is to strive to grow and understand our community and the various styles that our community grieves and to learn how to best serve our community. We will engage staff, Board members, volunteers, program participants, and the broader community to take active steps toward building a culturally diverse organization representative of the families in our community. We recognize that this work will entail ongoing conversation and action that will include all organization stakeholders, that it won’t be easy, and that mistakes will be made; yet we will continue to evaluate our programs through an equity lens to guide program development and delivery, so that no one has to grieve alone.