Ohana of Howard County, Inc.

Ohana of Howard County, Inc. (OhanaHC) is a mentoring non-profit that supports 9th graders at the 25th academic percentile in Howard County,  We are piloting the program at Wilde Lake High School in August 2020 with 10 students and 44 volunteers.  Four or five community volunteers form a support group ( an Ohana) for an underserved teen struggling in school.  The volunteers commit for at least a year and OhanaHC will follow the student for 10 years.   OhanaHC is modeled on the amazing work of Thread in Baltimore (www.thread.org).  We intend to expand into Long Reach, Hammond and Oakland Mills High Schools in the 21/22 school year.

Volunteers are grouped within an Ohana for maximum diversity by race, age, gender and ethnic background.  Our mission is two fold - to help underserved teens become successful adults and reduce isolation in Howard County by having people, who would otherwise not know each other, develop deep relationships while working on a common goal.