"Participants come each September and share their experiences with us. We have been so pleased with the leadership skills and the confidence these students gain at your academy!"  ~Lisa Stoller, President, Goddard Women's Club

"Aside from [helping] others, HOBY has taught us to help ourselves.  It brought the best of everyone to the surface, and it's taught us what to do with our talents."  ~2013 Ambassador from St. Paul

I learned to embrace all of my qualities-good and bad. I met some wonderful people who taught me that I can be a change and I can accomplish anything. HOBY has helped me grow and exand my mind into places that I hope will only grow from here. Thank you HOBY. ~2016 Ambassador

Mission
Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership provides lifelong leadership development opportunities that empower individuals to achieve their highest potential.

Vision
To motivate and empower individuals to make a positive difference within our global society through understanding and action based on effective and compassionate leadership.

Core Values
Volunteerism - Volunteerism is the heart and soul of our organization. We appreciate the myriad contributions of our volunteers, and recognize the power of thank you. We seek to promote and encourage volunteerism among our stakeholders. We recognize and value the power of good that volunteers can achieve working together.

Excellence - Excellence defines who we are and how we conduct our programs, and run our business. We proactively examine our performance and strive to improve in a never ending quest to continually raise our programs and business to new levels of excellence. We pursue excellence with a passion in all we do.

Organizational Integrity – Organizational integrity forms the foundation of our organization. We demand the highest level of ethics and grow our organization based on interactions that promote mutual trust and respect with our stakeholders. We strive to ensure the highest level of organizational effectiveness by continually reviewing our programs and processes to improve quality and efficiency.

Diversity – We value and embrace diversity. We seek out views that reflect all walks of life, and reflect those views in our programs. We are sensitive to the special needs and diverse backgrounds of individuals. We give all individuals an opportunity to be heard and to benefit from our programs.

Innovative Thinking – Our organization grows through innovative thinking. We are not constrained by fixed ideas. We learn from the past, but are not limited by it. We proactively approach challenges and opportunities with innovative thinking to develop creative solutions. We value innovative thinking that has the potential to expand our programs and better serve our stakeholders.  For this reason, our program changes and evolves every year.

Community Partnership – We value community partnerships. We recognize the importance of working with our community organizations to reflect the diverse backgrounds of the individuals we seek to serve. We value the input we receive from our community partners, and strive to work together cooperatively and constructively.

Lifelong Learning Leadership Opportunities – We never stop. We believe that leadership skills can and should be continually improved and refined. We provide programs and services to foster lifelong leadershiplearning opportunities.