Written by Andrea Howard
Tell us about your company/organization.
Parker Development Company is a third-generation, family-owned business that has created award-winning communities in the greater Sacramento area for more than 60 years. Our early projects were Greenhaven and Riverlake in Sacramento, followed by The Parkway at Folsom.
One of our largest, current-day projects is the 3,500-acre Serrano community that we began developing in the early 1990’s. It is hard to believe this much time has passed, but we have had an office in El Dorado Hills for nearly 30 years (initially off Governor’s Drive and currently in the Serrano Visitor’s Center on Serrano Parkway) to house a small, but almighty staff who have overseen the construction of Serrano and its various amenities from day one.
How did you hear of Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference?
Our company has been a champion of Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference for many years. I joined the Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference Board of Directors in 2017 and am currently the Vice Chair and Chair of the External Affairs Committee.
What is your reason(s) for sponsoring Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference?
Parker Development Company has a strong corporate philosophy and a long history of supporting a variety of non-profit organizations in the communities we create. Our values center on this fundamental philosophy because establishing a community certainly starts with its physical features, like its roads, parks, schools and homes. Nurturing the HEART and SENSE of community only comes from the connections among the people who live there. And that is what Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference does.
Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference creates a safe space to mentor our youth, giving them skills and confidence to explore, launch and shape connections with their peers, adults, and frankly, to look inward at themselves to identify and harness their natural strengths. Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference teaches our young people to understand the issues that face their community – good or bad – and empower them with the confidence that they can make meaningful impact on the things that matter and are important to them. We are proud to make an investment in our youth today so they can become the leaders of tomorrow.
Is there anything else that you would like to add? -Anything specific that resonates with you regarding Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference? Or, any specific memory or event that you'd like to share with our readers?
Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference is an admirable and well-respected organization for its leadership in cultivating the next generation of civic-minded adults. Rather than being just a spectator, Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference is teaching all of us that we can be participants in transforming our communities for the better.
Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference has also been very nimble in the way it responded to the pandemic. Its team members quickly employed virtual platforms to replace face-to-face meetings, which was instrumental in keeping the youth engaged in what could have been a very isolating time. This was beneficial from an external sense, in that the youth were able to continue serving their community, but also in an internal capacity to maintain a support system amongst each other.
We are proud to support Hands4Hope – Youth Making A Difference not only because they are a solid and sustainable organization, but because they are growing and expanding their reach and impact. They are actively serving our local youth from Placerville down to Folsom, and I remain continually impressed with the caliber of the students. They are confident, articulate and engaging problem solvers who utilize their natural skills and talents to improve the vitality of their neighborhoods and communities. In the end, that is what building a community is all about.
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