PROVEN PROGRAMS
EDUCATION & CAREER PATHWAYS
Ready To Start?
Find Your Path.
Learn, Earn or Intern. Classes. Career Paths. Certifications.
Education & workforce development programs designed for you.
Hope Works provides free job training, certifications & employment support for formerly incarcerated & underserved individuals in Modesto. Get hired, build your future.
No college degree needed. No experience required. Explore our programs. Build skills. Transform your future. Hope Works’ Learn, Earn, and Intern model assists with education and credentials, paid workforce experience, and hands-on internships to support long-term career success.
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Yes, But...
WHAT SHOULD I CHOOSE?
The Problem
Feeling stuck, knowing you want more for your future but unsure where to start—or worried about taking the wrong next step—can make it hard to move forward.
The Solution
Our Education, Career & Skill Development Session provides personalized guidance aligned with your interests, strengths, and abilities. Through exploration of education, career pathways, and skill-building opportunities, you can discover the right path forward and choose options that best fit your goals and needs
The Science
To do this, we use an innovative AI-powered assessment that blends insights from five of the world’s leading personality frameworks, a state-of-the-art education and career matcher, and both IQ- and EQ-based tools. Together, these help identify what aligns with your core identity and values, then translate that into clear, meaningful options you can confidently act on.
15 min - 45 min
Design a Future That Fits Your Life
Career & Education Coaching
Explore education options, career paths and skill-building with a guide.
Get support choosing programs, training, jobs and next steps that fit your real life.
Education, Career & Skills sessions give you a place to dream and be practical at the same time. Maybe you want a better job, a career change, or to go back to school but don’t know what’s realistic with your record, health, kids or finances. Together, we explore your strengths, interests and limits, then map out training, education, certifications and job options that make sense for your situation—not someone else’s idea of success.
Resilience Resume Writer
The First Resume Writer Built for Resilience, Recovery & Reentry
Transforming Employment Barriers Into Career Assets
For years, resume writers have operated under a single assumption: a "perfect" employment history is the baseline for career success. But that assumption leaves behind millions of people whose lives don't fit neat timelines—people whose real-world challenges and hard-won recovery are transformed into "red flags" by traditional hiring systems.
Help Is Hope's Resume Building System is different. It's the first resume writer specifically designed for people whose greatest strength is not the absence of struggle, but their triumph over it.
Who This Serves
This revolutionary approach empowers:
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People with stabilized mental health conditions who navigated crisis, treatment, and recovery to rebuild their lives
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Formerly incarcerated individuals who completed rehabilitation, reentry training, and community integration—proving commitment to positive change
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People who experienced homelessness or long-term unemployment who built stability through persistent effort despite systemic barriers
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People in active recovery from substance dependency who maintain sobriety, complete treatment programs, and demonstrate unwavering resilience
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People with disabilities or chronic health conditions whose employment gaps reflect necessary medical care, adaptation periods, or health management—not lack of capability
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Anyone whose resume contains gaps that employers misinterpret as lack of motivation, when the truth is survival, recovery, and extraordinary perseverance.
EDUCATION & CERTIFICATION
LEARN Skills Employers Are Hiring For Today
Your Past Doesn't Define Your Future. These 20+ Free Tech Paths Do.
Most people think tech careers require a degree you can't afford and a background you don't have. That's exactly what keeps you stuck. The truth? While colleges are charging $17,540 per year, Google, Meta, and Microsoft through help is hope are giving away certifications for free—and employers are hiring people with them for $40K-$100K.
Nobody talks about this because there's no profit in it. But it's real. It's online. And you can start today. Change everything. No degree. No money. No clean record needed. Just the willingness to learn. Pick your path and start training now.
Discover how to learn tech without the debt, degree, or discrimination.
15 min - 45 min
Available OnlineRead MoreI’m open and ready to learn how technology can help me create opportunities and improve my life.
15 min - 45 min
EMPLOYMENT/WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
EARN Income. No Experience. No Problem.
Your Record Doesn't Disqualify You. Get Paid To Ride A Bike. Collect Cans. Rescue Food. Yeah, Really.
You've been told you need experience to get experience. You've been ghosted by employers who "suddenly filled the position." You've watched people with clean backgrounds walk into jobs you'd crush—if anyone gave you the shot.
Here's what nobody tells you: while traditional employers are running background checks, Help Is Hope is putting people to work. Pedal Promo pays you to ride bikes. Yes We Can pays to collect recycling. Food Forward pays you to rescue food and feed families.
NONPROFIT INTERNSHIP
INTERN: Real Skills. From Real People. For Free
Mentors Who Actually Understand Your Story. Skills Employers Actually Hire For. Opportunities Actually Available Now.
Everyone says "get experience." Nobody tells you where. You see internships requiring degrees, references, and backgrounds you don't have. You watch people with connections land opportunities while you're stuck on the outside.
What if the people hiring you had been exactly where you are? Enhanced Community Health Workers. Certified Peer Support Specialists. Innovation Academy tech roles. Three internships designed by people who've been incarcerated, homeless, and written off—and built careers anyway.
We want people like you. Because we were you. Apply today.
SKILL UP
ONLINE TRAININGS That Fill A Community Need
Learn Life-Saving Skills. Change Your Community. Get Certified.
You don't need a degree to make a difference. You don't need money to become essential. You don't need permission to step up when people need help. The truth? Most people never get the chance to learn skills that actually matter—skills that save lives, build community, create safety.
Here's the truth: the skills that matter most—harm reduction, community building, crisis response, digital access—they're not locked behind expensive degrees or impossible requirements. They're online. They're affordable. They're waiting for you to become the person your community needs.
Get certified. Become the responder. Become the builder. Become the change.
Browse trainings below and start this week.
