Hopewell

Congratulations to Hopewell CEO Colleen Welder!

We are proud to celebrate Colleen’s graduation from the 2026 Leadership Geauga Signature Adult Program on June 5.

Over the course of the 10-month program, participants gained a deeper understanding of the people, organizations, and issues that shape Geauga County. The class traveled 437 miles throughout the county, visited 64 businesses, and met with 110 community and business leaders, gaining valuable insight into the region's strengths, challenges, and opportunities.

Participants also explored their own leadership styles, strengthened their communication skills, and learned how to collaborate effectively with people who have different perspectives and approaches.

Congratulations, Colleen, on this outstanding accomplishment and your continued commitment to leadership, learning, and serving our community!

On May 13, 2026, we celebrate and honor the extraordinary life and enduring legacy of our founder, Clara T. Rankin, on her birthday. A native Clevelander, Clara was known for her leadership roles and lifelong philanthropic support of many organizations in Northeast Ohio. In her seventies, she saw the need for a therapeutic farm for adults with mental illness near Cleveland, and this became her passion.

For Clara, Hopewell was truly a labor of love. In 1993 she assembled a Board of Directors, secured initial funding, found a 325-acre working farm, hired an executive director, and together they went to work developing clinical programs and hiring staff. Under Clara’s dedicated leadership, her vision became reality.

Clara’s clear mission was to provide an opportunity for adults with serious mental illness to experience a self-reliant and satisfying life through participation in a vibrant residential therapeutic community. Her unwavering belief in the role that nature and meaningful work play in mental health recovery and her tireless efforts shaped this organization into what it is today.

Hopewell opened its doors to the first resident in 1996. Since then, we have welcomed adults with mental illness from across the United States and abroad. Clara remained actively engaged in fundraising, making connections, and spreading the word about Hopewell until age 107, her spirit of advocacy never waning.

On Founder’s Day, we remember Clara Rankin for her sharp mind, prodigious memory, profound empathy, her generosity, and leadership. She inspired so many to care about people suffering with mental illness, who are often stigmatized or invisible. She left a legacy that inspires our commitment to mental health recovery every single day.

In her legacy, on Founder’s Day, we will award an employee who exemplifies the characteristics that made Clara such an inspirational – and aspirational – role model with the Clara T. Rankin Award. The first winner of the Clara T. Rankin Award is Anne Skowronski. Anne has worked at Hopewell for almost 30 years and embodies the core values of our therapeutic farm and Clara’s spirit through her passionate commitment to our residents and our program. Thank you, Anne, for your service to Hopewell. We are better because of you. https://hopewellcommunity.org/blog/2026/05/13/founders-day-may-13-2026/