1. Spreading Hope

2. Introduction to Spreading Hope
In this section we will explore how some community builders have maintained their efforts through a deeper understanding of steadfast commitment, fueled by a deep assurance that long-run change is possible – a characteristic that is fundamental to hope.

3. What Is Hope? Some Definitions and Qualities
Hope Is More than Wishing for Change
Hope Is Substantive
Hope Is a Way of Being
Hope Doesn’t Avoid Despair
Hope Is Being Open to Opportunity
Hope Is a Healthy Myth

4. How Hope Can Transform Community Outcomes
Hope Transforms through Action
Hope Challenges Conventional Wisdom
Engaging in Active Hope and Reconnection

5. Seeing Hope in the World
Noticing Holiness
Walking Together

6. Putting Hope to Work: Three Stories
Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The Beloved Community”
Paul Farmer: “Mountains Beyond Mountains”
Kay Nakao: Re-establishing a Community

7. Nurturing and Spreading Hope
Five principles for nurturing and spreading hope:
Possibility
Agency
Worth
Openness
Connection
Core
Colleagues
Company
Customers
Community
Common Ground
Cosmos

8. Some Challenges, and Questions for Reflection
What About False Hope?
What About Giving Up Hope?

9. In Summary Remember that your attitude makes all the difference
Hope involves trust
Hope and hopelessness can co-exist
Hold open the possibility for another chapter
Anticipate a positive future
Practices and habits can inspire hope
It takes a community
Set the table for hope
Talk it out

10. Final Observations Hope also has a magical ability to animate change.
The conviction that there is another chapter, that there is always another chapter, is perhaps the essence of what we mean we talk about hope as a resource deep within us that has the power to transform both ourselves, our colleagues, and the world around us.