I’m Sarah Kolb, the owner of Signs of Hope and the founder of Hearts & Minds Youth Services. My work is rooted in advocacy, recovery, family connection, and creating real world support systems for people who are often overlooked, judged, or navigating some of the hardest seasons of their lives.

I started Signs of Hope after years of watching people get stuck because of old mistakes, confusing court systems, lack of resources, or simply not having anyone willing to help them navigate the process. Signs of Hope is a legal support and advocacy business that focuses on expungements, fine reduction requests, fingerprinting services, court related support, and helping people understand systems that can feel impossible to navigate alone. A criminal record can affect nearly every area of someone’s life including employment, housing, education, professional licensing, and even family reunification. I wanted to create something that felt approachable and human instead of intimidating or transactional.

A lot of the people I work with through Signs of Hope are individuals in recovery, parents trying to reunify with their children, people transitioning out of the justice system, or individuals who are finally ready to move forward but do not know where to start. I have always believed that one mistake, addiction, trauma history, or difficult chapter should not define a person forever. Helping someone clear barriers and open new doors is one of the most meaningful parts of the work I do.

Separate from Signs of Hope, I founded Hearts & Minds Youth Services, which is focused on youth and family support services including supervised visitation, parenting education, mentoring, peer support, and eventually teen group homes and transitional housing programs for youth aging out of care. Hearts & Minds was created out of years of personal and professional experiences watching families struggle through addiction, child welfare involvement, instability, trauma, poverty, and disconnection. I saw how many services felt clinical, cold, rushed, or disconnected from the actual realities families were living through.

My vision for Hearts & Minds is to create spaces that feel safe, welcoming, relationship based, and healing centered while still providing structure, accountability, and stability. I want families to feel like they are walking into a place where they are seen as human beings, not case numbers. I believe supervised visitation can be more than monitored time between parents and children. I believe it can become a space for rebuilding trust, strengthening attachment, modeling healthy interaction, and helping families reconnect in meaningful ways.

Long term, my goal is to expand Hearts & Minds into multiple programs that support teens and young adults who are at risk of homelessness, aging out of foster care, involved in juvenile systems, or lacking safe support systems. I want to create teen group homes and transitional living programs that feel home like instead of institutional. Programs where young people can learn life skills, gain work experience, receive mentoring, and build real community while still having structure and accountability. I strongly believe youth deserve environments that balance compassion with high expectations and genuine support.

In addition to my business work, I am deeply involved in peer support and recovery advocacy. Recovery has shaped both my life and my perspective. I know firsthand that healing is not linear and that people need support systems that are rooted in connection, dignity, and authenticity. Over the years, I have worked alongside individuals and families navigating addiction recovery, treatment courts, child welfare involvement, mental health struggles, crisis situations, and major life transitions. Those experiences have shaped how I approach people and the kind of programs I want to build.

I am currently continuing my education in Human Services with plans to go on to complete my Master’s in Social Work. My long term vision is not just to build businesses, but to build programs, environments, and opportunities that genuinely change lives and strengthen communities. I want my work to bridge gaps between recovery, advocacy, youth services, legal support, and family healing because in real life, those issues are deeply connected.

At the center of everything I do is the belief that people deserve second chances, real support, honest guidance, and environments that help them grow instead of keeping them trapped in survival mode. I believe healing happens through connection, accountability, empowerment, and community. My goal is to create work that leaves people feeling seen, supported, and hopeful about what comes next.