What Gives You Hope?

For the Issue 1 community prompt, members of our community share what fuels their optimism and resilience, from faith and family to education and the possibility of a brighter future.

Robert Boyd: “Waking up every morning is a chance to do things differently and better.”

Michael Broadway: “My grandchildren.”

Elbonie Burnside: “Hope is a powerful thing during a time of oppression. It is light in a time of darkness, and it is what gives you strength when you have nothing. I have hope for a better community and a more inclusive society without social injustices. I have hope for me evolving as a person and for my liberation. Without hope there is no true liberation for me, so I hang on to hope as hard as I can. Without hope I have nothing.”

Jeffery Campbell: “My faith in Allah.”

Vanecha Cooper: “What gives me most hope is that while I cannot undo my past transgressions, God can heal me from the effects of them, allowing me to walk into a promising and fulfilling destiny (II Corinthians 5:17).”

Lynn Green: “Living restoratively.”

Regina DeFrancisco: “Hope to me is the shining light you can see around a closed door.”

Mark Dixon: “Every day that I am alive, I get another chance to make my life whatever I desire it to be. To me, that is powerful.”

Craig B. Harvey: “My mother’s sobriety!”

Bernard McKinley: “Knowing my purpose.”

Flynard Miller: “Education gives me hope.”

Abdul-Malik Muhammad: “Having an amazing attorney and legal team that’s fighting to have me released — it gives me hope!”

Leon Robinson: “Having faith in God.”

Irene Romaniuk: “Hope will motivate you to live a meaningful, productive, and happy life. Hope will challenge you to live your best and to fulfill your potential. Never let go of hope. One day, when what you have always wished for has finally come to be, you will look back and laugh at what has passed. You will ask yourself, ‘How did I get through all of that?’ Hope is the answer.”

Kevin Scott: “Our NPEP family that has invested in our future!”

James Soto: “Education as an equalizer.”

Bonnie Shelesney: “Hope is intention and effort progressing along universal synchronicities.”

Orlando Watkins: “My quest for freedom and education.”