Hope For Three
Autism Advocates. Providing Help. Creating Hope.
Learn how to support this organization
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Autism is the leading and fastest-growing developmental disability in the United States, affecting 1 in 36 American children. Autism is more common than pediatric AIDS, childhood cancer, and juvenile diabetes combined. A child is diagnosed every 11 minutes. The annual cost of care for one child is about s about $60,000 and the lifetime cost of care is estimated to extend up to $2,400,000. The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder increased over 317% in the last 20 years (CDC, March 2023). Autism is not going away, nor is the need for critical support for families with autistic loved ones.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Outreach and Awareness
Hope For Three initiates education and outreach in the community and school systems so we can better reach our target audience. Outreach increases awareness and builds support for those affected by autism, while also providing knowledge to families who might not have previously been able to obtain treatment and services for their children with ASD. It's Cool to Care is a county-wide awareness campaign presented in the public school systems. The program is an effort to educate empower and enable young people about other young people with unique abilities - autism. From this effort a Teen Huddle was formed. The Huddle created two programs, 1) Sibling Sessions and 2) Parents Time Out. The Huddle is comprised of 18 teens from local area high schools. The Huddles mission: To increase autism awareness, acceptance and understanding among teens. The Huddle partnered with a local church to hold the Sibling Sessions (SS) & Parents Time Out (PTO). SS is a mentor program exclusively for siblings of kids with autism. The Sessions allow siblings to have the undivided attention of a teen “buddy” for the duration of a school year, develop friendships and encourage support through group activities and mentor sessions. PTO offers parents a safe place to drop all their kids for a three hour respite giving caregivers some much needed time off; a rare occasion for most, a first time out for many. PTO provides activities for both children with autism and their siblings simultaneously. The programs were developed to provide support to parents, caregivers and children affected by autism that might not otherwise have access to these opportunities. CIT (Crisis Intervention Training) focuses on training local law enforcement professionals and first responders to recognize and respond effectively to hostile situations that may have a child on the autism spectrum involved. Hope for Three is the official autism educator of The Fort Bend County Sheriff department.
Family Resources
Hope For Three offers free resources to any inquiring party and financial aid to qualified residents in Fort Bend County, TX. Through the Family Resources program we address the urgent need to provide financial aid (Family Assistance Awards) to uninsured or underinsured children so they have access to vital services, including, but not limited to physical, occupational, behavioral or speech therapies, at the earliest stage of life possible. After an extensive application process, approved payments are always made to the service provider, treatment facility or vendor and never to the family directly. Although we attempt to help any child with ASD, the client population we typically serve is 2-12 years of age. Hope for Three is the only nonprofit in the county to provide financial assistance and the only nonprofit to focus exclusively on the leading developmental disability in the United States, autism spectrum disorder. Although we work in concert with other organizations, no one does what we do.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Texas Crisis Intervention Team Organization of the Year 2023
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsHours of mentoring
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adults, Ethnic and racial groups, Caregivers, Families
Related Program
Outreach and Awareness
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Teen Huddle: host Sibling Sessions, teen volunteers with the sibling of a child with autism for the duration of a school year. Friendships are formed and bonds created through a host of activities
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our primary goals include identifying families with children on the autism spectrum, providing support including increased access to a higher-quality of treatment and services at the earliest stages of life, and increasing resources available to families. Early intervention is imperative to improve life outcomes.
Also, generate community outreach to increase awareness, and build support for those affected by autism, while also providing knowledge to families who might not have previously been able to obtain services for their children on the autism spectrum.
We strive to bridge the financial gap between providers and families, raise autism acceptance and understanding and provide inclusive opportunities for children and their families.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Thousands of children with autism will soon become thousands of young adults with autism. The human and financial costs for those who do not receive adequate treatment can devastate families for a lifetime. It is proven that with early intervention and proper treatment children with ASD will assimilate into society more easily and family stress will be reduced.
The more our community learns about the challenges of living with autism from outreach efforts we provide, the better they are able to understand and support families through the difficult journey of diagnosis, intervention and management of autism. By integrating children with disabilities, such as ASD, we not only enrich their lives, but our lives and the lives of those in our shared community. With increased programs and services to children with autism, everyone benefits.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
In addition to increased funding opportunities, we plan to continue to recruit, train and utilize an increased number of volunteers for the organization in a variety of facets. By engaging these volunteers, we are able to build our support for families affected by autism and awareness within the greater community.
Hope For Three has garnered local and regional support from media partners and volunteers. Now that we have a dedicated, trained, and qualified staff in place, we plan to expand these efforts by providing consistency, developing relationships, and maintaining Hope for Three's place in our community's hearts and minds.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Reach thousands in the community through outreach and awareness efforts; an estimated 8,000 community and family members.
Increased collaborations with Greater Houston service providers, professionals, and community partners.
Featured on television, monthly publications, and community newspapers. We reach an estimated audience of about 500,000 annually, including all social media channels.
Trained over 4,000 members of law enforcement and first responders on the characteristics of autism and engagement strategies.
Since its inception in 2011, Hope For Three awarded over $1,800,000 in financial assistance to children with autistic children, loved ones, and their families, and has provided over 7,000 quality resources to inquiring parties.
The urgent need to reach more families, educators, and others is the organization's primary concern, as is letting the public know who we are, what we do, and how we can help.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Hope For Three
Board of directorsas of 09/09/2024
Mr. Patrick LaRue
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
Term: 2012 -
Patrick LaRue
Partner, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
Mary Ann Gardner
Community Volunteer
Jacque Davis
Community Relations, OCuSOFT, Inc
Keith Borgfeldt
Spartan Wealth Management LLCPresident/Founder
Elizabeth Chipinski
Ret. Attorney, Phillips 66, Managing Counsel Labor/Employment/Benefits
Joe Cunneff
Financial Consultant, RJFS, The Noble Group
Sandra Stewart
VP Marketing, TNT Crane and Rigging
Tony K. Duckett JP, MBA
Lawyer, Mediator, Realtor
Chandeep Kohli
Program Manager of Specialized Programs, FBISD
Tracy Jackson
Deputy Chief Communications Officer, METRO Houston
Justin Moehn
Self-Advocate, Data Entry Clerk, BlueSprig
Debbie Neilson Perez
Ret. Educational Diagnostician
Talia Pennington-Dorsey
Director of College Counseling, Incarnate Word Academy
Michelle Watts
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/09/2024GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.