On November 6, author John Calhoun asked an audience at the National Press Club to consider one question: why does hope matter? “It seems that in the minds [of some] faith is often associated with extremism and intolerance,” he explained. “Faith is often used to separate one group from another and even to justify violence.”

The audience was there for the release of Calhoun’s new book Hope Matters: The Untold Story of How Faith Works in America. In Hope Matters Calhoun attempts to dispell notions some recent books have for blaming religion for society’s woes by proving that it brings out the goodness in people—especially when they heed the call to help others.

He invited three people featured in the book to speak about why faith and hope mattered to them: Anthony Ortiz, the CEO of California Youth Outreach (Fresno, Calif.); Robin Bernstein, the President and CEO of The Educational Alliance (New York City); and Alexie Torres-Fleming, the founder and Executive Director of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (YMPJ) in the Bronx.

One Christmas Eve during his early teens, Anthony Ortiz found himself alone and forgotten in an empty jail cell. Glancing around the room, he realized that the only being in his company was a roach. “You know you’ve hit rock bottom when your only friend is a cockroach,” he said.

Ortiz spent most of his youth skipping school and hanging out with his gang. By the time he reached his teens, Ortiz was an illiterate seventh-grade dropout who was in and out of trouble with the law. He hustled and made a lot of fast money, but he felt his life was void of purpose. Only when he realized God had a plan for him did his life changed. “Sometimes people don’t have any idea what that purpose is,” he explained, “but it’s something at the core of their being.”

Today, Ortiz has found his purpose: to help young people who are enticed by fast money, drugs, and gangs, as he once was, to discover their purpose.

“If God can work with this lump of clay,” Ortiz chuckled, “He can work with anyone.”

The death Robin Bernstein’s father inspired her to help others. Choking back tears, Bernstein explained how when she was seven, she woke up on New Years Morning and ran into her living room to find her parents and was faced with the news that her father was dying. After his death, Bernstein learned the Hebrew concept of tikkum olam or “repairing the world.” “My father’s strength and teachings influence everything I do,” she said. "For every person The Educational Alliance helps...his memory is honored."

For Alexie Torres–Fleming hope matters because it matters to her community. As the daughter of a custodian and one who grew up in the housing projects of the South Bronx, Torres-Fleming "escaped" to Madison Avenue's fast track. Finding herself unfulfilled, Torres-Fleming moved back to her old neighborhood to combat crime and violence. "Friends warned me that I was moving down," she said simply. "[However] I was moving up. True power is when you find your blessing, your calling."

After a church in Torres–Fleming's neighborhood was burned by drug dealers, the community rallied together in prayer, hoping that God would show them how to make their neighborhood better.

Torres–Fleming was awed by her neighborhood’s determination. The YMPJ does its part by rebuilding local neighborhoods and preparing young people for lives of peace and justice.

John Calhoun has had a distinguished career in public-policy. He was appointed the U.S. Commissioner of the Administration For Children, Youth and Families by President Jimmy Carter and also served as the founding president of the National Crime Prevention Council for twenty years.A few years ago he found himself wondering if the work he did actually made a difference. It wasn’t until Calhoun spoke with a clear-sighted colleague that he realized just how important hope is. Inspired, he embarked on a journey to ask some of America’s hardest working public servants how their faith affects their work. Over the course of two years he spoke with different people from all over the country— Christians of every denomination, Muslims, Jews and others; some who pray five times a day and some who are “not that religious.”

What resulted was Hope Matters. Including Ortiz, Bernstein, and Torres-Flemming, are the stories of twenty-four people devoted to making their neighborhoods better and the lives of those who live in them richer. Calhoun wants Hope Matters to "inspire people to ask themselves, 'How can I be there for my neighbor?'” Is there a more important question as we go through life together?" ”