Higher Ground Youth & Family Services

In 2008, after selling his successful business, Joe Baldo began volunteering in Juvenile Hall. He quickly realized that most of these young men were self-proclaimed gang members at a very young age. In 2010 Joe left Juvenile Hall to work with kids “on the outs” where they needed it the most. In late 2010, he began providing alternative activities for youth in an effort to get them off the streets and help them avoid recidivism and the enticement of gangs by getting them involved in sports. By early 2011, Joe and his friends were serving a few hundred kids through sports in 5 parks in Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Placentia and Stanton. By the Spring of 2013, Anaheim City School District (ACSD) began identifying at-risk youth that would benefit from positive mentorship. Joe was introduced to 64 youth chosen based on criteria like academic and behavioral struggles or lack of home support. By keeping the ratio of kids to coaches at four to one, Joe and his friends not only provided coaching, but mentoring. In the Fall of 2013, Higher Ground was officially born and became a certified nonprofit. With an agreement from the City of Anaheim, in 2014 we were granted exclusive use of Lincoln Park and planted our first modular buildings.That summer, Higher Ground had its first annual Summer Camp and in the Fall opened an after-school program at Lincoln Park. With the need for expanded programming growing rapidly, Joe Baldo created an agreement with Chapman University that gave Chapman students the responsibility of designing and facilitating a variety of program offerings. Our critical partnerships with local universities began. Joe quickly discovered that surrounding youth with quality programming wasn’t enough. Mentorship revealed deeper issues that Joe knew only professionals should handle. In 2014, we integrated therapists into programming in order to effectively respond to the social and emotional challenges of local youth. By 2020, we completed the creation of our Family Wellness Center. In 2019, we responded to a request from the OC Human Trafficking Task Force and the Anaheim Police Department to design, implement, and evaluate a pilot project that would help shape a county-wide human trafficking prevention strategy for vulnerable adolescents. Since then, we have reached over 8,000 individuals through this program, including 1,000 junior high and high school students served in the fall of 2022 alone. Higher Ground continues to thrive thanks to strong strategic partnerships that allow us to meet the evolving needs of underserved communities. We’ve collaborated closely with local school districts, gang intervention programs, law enforcement agencies, and nonprofit partners to develop responsive programs that address community-identified challenges. Our university partnerships have been especially vital to our growth, as we serve as an accredited learning site for students from Chapman University, CSULB, CSUF, UCI, University of Chicago, and Vanguard University. These university partners not only provide interns and volunteers, but also contribute directly to our academic enrichment curriculum, teaching classes on our campus. In 2022, in response to a request from Fullerton Elementary School District, we expanded programming to two elementary schools in Fullerton. Today, we serve youth ages 4 to 17 through three afterschool programs, offer counseling services to the broader community, and continue delivering our Human Trafficking Prevention curriculum in classrooms across Orange County. In the spring of 2023, 146 volunteers and interns — primarily university students — supported Higher Ground’s mission across all programs. This collaborative model made it possible for Higher Ground to reach more than 6,500 individuals in 2024, including over 2,700 youth directly engaged in programs ranging from mentoring and mental health services to workforce development, food distribution, human trafficking prevention, and literacy support. Our Flourishing Families program also continued to provide comprehensive wraparound services for families facing challenges related to housing, employment, food insecurity, and behavioral health.