About Us

To positively impact our communities by providing access to solutions that empower people, change lives, and give hope.

A Look back……

In 1994, an Atlanta businessman and a research doctor from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) worked together to lay the groundwork for what would soon become The Organization for Urban & Rural Health And Nutritional Development Services, "OUR HANDS". They recognized a great disparity between the resources that were available to children in rural areas as compared to those that were easily accessible to children in more urban and affluent suburban areas of Georgia. They launched the nonprofit organization "OUR HANDS" in 1995 and successfully served thousands of Georgia's children while working with over 500 daycare providers for many years. "OUR HANDS" grew to become one of the largest sponsoring agencies in the South for the USDA Child Care Food Program.

After major changes in the state's administration of this federal program, the directors realized that the organization could have a more profound effect on the lives of those they served by operating apart from the government bureaucracy. "OUR HANDS" began to facilitate services in a much different capacity and the directors focused on a more hands-on approach to problem solving rather than just being administrators.

A Look forward……

The Executive Director and several of the original board members of "OUR HANDS" wanted to find a way to serve the community in a larger, more comprehensive capacity. The objective was to create a platform that could offer an enlarged scope of services and impact a greater number of people in need. Out of this mission, the executive team developed a plan and decided to launch a new organization they called Hope Wanted.

Hope Wanted was chartered in Atlanta with the vision of becoming a national resource and referral agency to assist those in most dire need. Our plan is to utilize grassroots campaigns to engage members of local communities in seeking out those who would benefit most from our services. To make us more accessible, we will open physical resource locations around the nation that we call Hope Centers. Our goal is to open 350 centers in the first 3 years. We are striving to be the leading social service resource provider in each of the markets we serve.