keep hope, they say. It sustains life. It carries fervent desire and joyful expectation. It helps you live out your mission, your vision, and the values you hold for how you will change this one life you’ve been given.

They say all these beautiful things about hope.

I say: let’s build it.

The Class That Made Me Write on a Monday

Over the weekend, my son gave me picture of a colorful butterfly he made himself. The butterfly was colorful, bright and full of life my son said when asked about the picture.

Today I sat in a class that teaches exactly that: how to build hope, one bright approach at a time. The teachers were phenomenal. Anyone who can get me writing on a Monday evening, after a long day of work, is stellar.

So I spent the last few hours sitting with one question: What kind of hopeful future do I imagine for young people?

My answer came quickly. A future where young people are truly at the center. Not invited at the end. Not consulted as an afterthought. At the center.

What Young People Taught Me

For the past several years, I have worked on trials built around one simple idea: ask young people what they want, then listen.

Together, we crowdsourced ideas. We designed. We tested. We evaluated what worked and what didn’t. That one project opened the door to many more, and at their core, every one of them is about the same thing.

Building hope for young people.

I call myself a grant writer. But if I’m honest, every grant I’ve written for young people has really been an act of hope. A proposal that says: this future is possible, and here is how we build it.

This Season, I Want to Build Something That Lasts

This season, I want to build something that stands the test of time. Something that doesn’t just hand hope to young people, but builds it with them, through three things every young person needs:

• Belonging. A place where they are seen and known.
• Earning. Real ways to create income and independence.
• Building. Tools to grow hope for themselves, and then pass it on to other young people.

Hope is not a feeling we wait for. It is a structure we build, one beam at a time.

The True Gift

The true gift of life is opening your eyes to see just how free you are. Your spirit. Your inner liberation. Your light.

That freedom comes alive when you know how to build hope for the next generation.

It is as if the skies open, and a voice is heard saying, I am pleased.

The Daily Practice of Building Hope

You don’t need a grant or a classroom to begin. Try this today:

1. Remember one young person. A child, a student, a niece, a neighbor, or the young person you once were.
2. Ask one question. “What do you want?” Then truly listen.
3. Build one small thing. A connection, an introduction, an encouraging word, an open door.

Do it again tomorrow. That is the practice. Small, daily, steady. That is how hope stops being a word and becomes a home.

Youth Is You

Here is what I know after all these years: everything is before you when you build hope. When your eyes open, you begin to see it.

Youth is not them.

Youth is you.

The young person you were still lives in the choices you make today. Build hope for them, and you are building it for yourself.

Keep this.

— Juliet Iwelunmor, Storm & Star

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Fine print: AI was used for formatting and editing. The words, story, and ideas belong to the author, Juliet Iwelunmor.