Our History

UrbanTrekkers is a youth program of UrbanPromise Ministries, founded by Tony Campolo and Bruce Main through UrbanPromise Camden in 1988. Over the last two decades, the UrbanPromise model has spread to various countries across the United States, Canada, Malawi, Uganda, and Honduras.

UrbanPromise Honduras (UPH) began in 2008 under the leadership of Blair Quinius. UrbanPromise Honduras strives to do more than offer fun activities to children and youth. We work to break cycles of poverty by instilling life-changing truth and hope into each person. We work together with members of the community to consistently pour into the lives of youth and develop solid leaders who are guided by the principles of Christian faith.

In September of 2013, UrbanTrekkers Honduras launched as a program of UPH under the leadership of Kris Schnepf. We are modeled after the UrbanTrekkers experiential learning program of Camden, NJ founded by Jim Cummings in 2004. Expansion of the experiential and expeditionary programming of UrbanTrekkers has been made possible through a generous grant from the Wallace Research Foundation. UrbanTrekkers is currently expanding  to other UrbanPromise sites including Trenton, NJ, Wilmington, DE, Miami, FL and now Copan, Honduras.

As a pilot program, Kris partnered up with Franqui, a local Board Member of UPH, to take a group of 12 teens and 4 other leaders hiking in the hills surrounding Copán Ruinas. It was to be a trial run for what we hoped would one day become something bigger. Well, since that fateful day, we have had over 190 youth involved in a total of 13 day hikes and events, 9 overnight expeditions, over 1000 hours of volunteer and community service work, started our very own rooftop garden, and collectively ridden our bikes over 5,000 miles! I’d say something bigger has come out of that hike!

On this site, you will find snapshots of the lives that have been shaped and transformed through UrbanTrekkers Honduras. It is not comprehensive, but I hope you are able to get a glimpse into the reason we go Trekking. We trek for the promise that is within each of our youth. We trek for the promise of a greater Honduras. We trek for the promise that our God can redeem what was broken and transform lives.