Join Hands ESL, Inc.

Join Hands ESL, Inc. is a community-based 501c3 nonprofit organization founded in 1990 to serve children and families in East St. Louis, Illinois. We are focused on building lasting relationships that empower and open doors of opportunity for those we serve. Our goal is to provide a pathway out of poverty by prioritizing education and walking in solidarity with those in our programs. This includes youth programming, family mentoring, teen mentoring, educational services, career planning, Peace Warrior programs, and ongoing community outreach. All programs are housed at the Dream Path Teen Center, or Ubuntu Center for Peace, which also welcomes members of the larger community as an oasis of peace and dignity for all. Join Hands currently partners with many organizations, including East Side Aligned, which is a collaborative impact effort to better serve children in East St. Louis.
Our grassroots method has proven effective in a community that continues to struggle with inter-generational poverty and violence. By earning the trust of those we serve, we have engaged more than 1200 individuals and families with a message of education, nonviolence and personal accountability. Our programs are not about short-term solutions, an occasional hand-out, or the negativity associated with poverty. We focus on non-judgment, human dignity and mutual respect to achieve proactive and positive results. Our accelerated growth, especially over the past six years, is evidence of our success.
Join Hands has become a beacon of hope for all who walk through our doors. We conservatively estimate we have touched the lives of over 1,200 people. While this might not seem an impressive number, it is substantial considering our limited manpower and resources, and the level of poverty that has plagued East St. Louis for decades. The results of our organization can be seen in the photographs adorning our walls of more than 60 young people who have come through our Dream Path program and are currently in college, serving in the military or pursuing other career goals; it can be seen in the countless numbers of women and children who attend our monthly support group meetings; in work being done by our teens in the Peace Warrior program; in our high school students who are applying to college; in the countless adults who have come to us for help to complete their high school degree and in enrolling in regional college programs; and in those from the greater community who come for a cup of coffee or groceries, made possible by partners who support the nutritional needs and food shortages in our community. We work on breaking the cycle of poverty, one family, one child at a time.