Hope Stories

people accomplishing together

Our stories lift up the voices and celebrate the lives of people who are engaged in community to learn, lead and help shape their community.


	Astor Green a volunteer with the Hope Learning Center	Born in Jamaica, raised in England and settled in Minnesota – we are lucky that Astor Green found his way to Hope Community. For 5 years, every Saturday morning, Astor has volunteered as a Math and English tutor for adult learners at the Hope Learning Center. Astor reflects on what inspires him to volunteer, “I really enjoy creating new ways for students to understand and solve math problems on their own.” With a PhD in Chemistry, Astor believes strongly that, “literacy is a foundation that everyone needs.”
	Aisha a learner and dreamer	Aisha was born in Khartoum, Sudan. In 2005, she and her two children immigrated to Minneapolis. Aisha expresses how it felt being in a new home for the first time – speaking only her native language and being the only family member in the States: “It was dark. It felt like I couldn’t see.” Three years later, Aisha and her family are Hope tenants. Six days a week she attends the Hope Learning Center to improve her literacy skills. Her dream is to finish college so she can help others and give her children a better life and future. Someday, Aisha and her children would love to visit her family in Sudan. She says, “The blue water of the Nile is so big – so beautiful in the summer.”
	TreShawn a learner	TreShawn was in the 1st grade when he started Learning in Community last fall. He was having trouble with reading and sounding out the words. At the end of the first semester in school he showed a little improvement. At the end of the year he was named the “Most Improved Reader”. TreShawn’s mother explains, “It is hard sometimes for TreShawn to open up to people and he bonded with a volunteer. He was able to open up with her and succeed to the best of his abilities. We are very thankful to all the Learning in Community volunteers, thank you for being there.”
	La'Kisha giving back to Hope	La’Kisha recently returned to be a volunteer at Hope because as a young girl she often joined Hope’s original hospitality house for community dinners. It “was more than a place for me to go…it’s where I felt safe.” Today as a volunteer tutor for Hope, La’Kisha is fulfilling a promise she made to Hope’s founder – a promise to give back to the community. “Community,” La-Kisha expresses, “is where family, spirituality and the individual come together as a whole.” La’Kisha lives with her family in the Phillips neighborhood. She volunteers with Hope’s Learning in Community – her daughters are participants in the program.
	Willie A community volunteer	Willie remembers his mom teaching neighborhood kids how to read – and as the reason they went back to school. “When I was growing up in Greenwood, Mississippi, kids missed a lot of school. One day my mom went to the dollar store and bought books for the kids next door. For the next month she read with them every day.” These memories filled with stories of his mom helping others, Willie said, have taught him to share himself and be a part of community. Willie has lived at The Jourdain since 2006. He is a volunteer tutor with Hope’s community-literacy program and is part of a community leadership group. He is also an active member of his church and works at the Veterans Administration Hospital.
	Fatima a young leader	A seventh grader at Folwell Middle School, Fatima has been involved in Hope’s Youth in the City mentoring program every Saturday since she moved to Hope over 3 years ago. “Saturdays are when I see my good friends from the neighborhood,” she explains, “because my school is far away.” She continues to express what she enjoys about living at Hope, “People are interactive – they talk to each other. It’s nice.” Fatima especially likes history, math and science. She is on the volleyball team at school and does community service through the YMCA. She recently began learning about documentary filmmaking in Hope’s mentoring program.
	Courtney a mentor	Courtney has been one of the most active youth in Hope’s music program. In his second year he became an assistant teacher, helping to mentor new youth. He writes songs that speak to people, but explains, “That wasn’t how I started to express myself. Hope taught me that I can write about everything. I learned how to talk about my emotions in a way that people understand.” Courtney and his family live in the Phillips Neighborhood. He is pictured here with his father who he says, “is behind me 100%.” Hope’s Music Production and Art of MC’ing program brings youth together around common interests and connects them to community. Through creative expression, youth find and lift up their voices.
	Marzia a community member	Six days a week, Marzia studies English, writing and math at the Hope Learning Center (HLC). Five years ago she and her four children moved to Minneapolis from Afghanistan and became tenants of Hope Community. When she first arrived, Marzia remembers how hard it was to understand English. Today she speaks and reads English fluently. Marzia’s eldest daughter is a nurse’s assistant and a graduate of Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Her son aspires to be an engineer. And her two youngest children are involved in Hope’s tutoring program with Project for Pride in Living. Over the years, Marzia’s community has grown – daily HLC classes, summer involvement in the neighborhood garden and morning visits by the fireplace with the Hope staff. When asked what Hope means to her, Marzia expresses, “The people of Hope have become like a family to me.”
	Omari a tenant and mentor	When asked to share a story about his volunteer work at Hope, Omari recalls a moment when he was asked to share with youth leaders at Hope what it is like to be an African-American mentor. He said, “Until that moment I didn’t realize how a big a role I am really playing in the community as a mentor – not just as a black man but as a father figure.” Omari is a tenant of Hope and started volunteering over two years ago with Youth in the City. Most recently he worked with youth at Hope to create a documentary film about a historical event in African-American history. He states, “I saw a lot of kids change through the process. With each workshop, they met new people and started to put more of themselves into it. It changed their perspectives.” A father, activist, mentor and community member, Omari aspires to his belief that, “It takes one person to change the world.”