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Homes of Hope - History and Goals

Youth With A Mission (YWAM) San Diego/Baja was founded by Sean & Janet Lambert in October 1991. The organization grew in response to the needs they recognized in the Northern Baja region of Mexico. From a small beginning in which thirty young people participated in a single house building trip, YWAM San Diego/Baja is now hosting thousands of volunteers who participate annually.

The first small teams visited in 1988. Since those early trips, nearly 60,000 volunteers have served and helped over 190,000 people via community service projects within the Northern Baja region, including house building with the Homes of Hope program. A 4,000 square foot office and warehouse in San Diego now serves as the coordinating center for its many programs in Mexico. Operating centers in Tijuana and Ensenada host volunteers numbering in excess of 5,200 per year and development of a new operating location has begun in Tijuana.

YWAM San Diego/Baja is a growing organization with more than 90 full time, non-salaried staff that currently live and work at the various operating locations. The projects they facilitate for the thousands of annual participants who join them, include orphanages and prisons, soup kitchens, food and clothing distribution, migrant camps, juvenile hall, youth projects and rallies, as well as the most well known Homes of Hope program.

With an estimated 5,000 plus people moving into the northern Baja area every month, the need continues to grow. Many are looking for work and opportunities, yet their arrival stretches the capacity of this rapidly growing region. YWAM San Diego/Baja is committed to supporting the region's growth and development by impacting struggling families and assisting them into a home, helping break the cycle of poverty that traps them.

Target groups are the poorest of the poor - those in food poverty, that do not have shelter improvement as their first priority and those experiencing basic-needs poverty, who while they can feed themselves, have little left to improve their living conditions. It is recognized that given the right circumstances and assistance, both these groups will be able to change their circumstances and future productivity. Government programs over recent years have greatly improved the living standards of families with housing programs, yet the need is great and many from both these poverty categories still fall through the cracks.

Since its inception, the Homes of Hope program has impacted thousands of children living in the Baja region as their families have been home recipients. These children have experienced benefits in their health and wellbeing due to improved living conditions; benefits in their family as the stability of a home enables emotional and economic benefits; as well as educationally as they attend school and open more doors for their future productivity as citizens in their communities.

In 1997, in recognition of the impact in the city of Tijuana, the Mayor awarded YWAM San Diego/Baja the Civic Merit Award from the City of Tijuana (the highest award given) for service to the community.

The success of the program has been a partnership between YWAM San Diego/Baja and numerous groups that participate in order to benefit Mexico. Teams not only come from businesses and companies, but also from church groups, schools, and family teams. For many who participate, the desire to help is a reflection of their faith. All who participate do so to serve the nation of Mexico by sharing what they have with others as they help them better provide for their families.

By August of 2006, Homes of Hope had placed 2,000 families in homes in the Baja region with additional homes being built by other YWAM entities in the cities of Guadalajara, Juarez, Cancun, Mazatlan, and Culiacan.

YWAM San Diego/Baja continues with it’s commitment to make a difference - one family at a time.