Joseph Baldo

Founder & Executive Director
Higher Ground Youth & Family Services

After a successful career in corporate communications, Joe Baldo went in search of a service that would impact those in need. Several different volunteer roles led him to a three-year experience with youth in juvenile hall in Orange. The harsh reality these teens faced was immediately clear. Knowing they desperately needed programs and a support system outside juvenile hall, Baldo founded Higher Ground Youth & Family Services (HG) in 2012. Within a year, the city of Anaheim granted HG the use of Lincoln Park.

By 2017, collaborative agreements defined the critical role of six university partners (CSUF, CSULB, UCI, Biola, Concordia, and Chapman University) including service-learning classes taught weekly on HG’s campus and a wide variety of internships, field study, and practicum students each semester.