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Hope is found in Brighton in Ruth Anslow who co-founded the supermarket called HISBE (How it should be). Can you have a supermarket that honours suppliers well, pays employees living wage as a minimum and that only stocks ethical products?

my story of helpfulness is about all the people I know that have lived experience of the criminal justice system, and are now doing something phenomenal to make it better for other people. My friend, Tony was 15 years in and out of prison who has set up the charity hope and vision which is about housing people after they come out of intensive rehab. My friend Mandy has a long history of being in and out of prison but has gone on to become a drugs worker and runs housing projects for women. My friend Paula runs a prisoner Policy Network at the Prison Reform Trust and has gone down the more structural end of things like me, looking at how we can get the voices of people with experience of prison and of criminal justice to change the policy and practice in our system. These three people are some of the bravest and best people I know and they challenge me constantly to be better, to dig deeper to go further in the pursuit of real justice.

Atlas of the Future is my hopeful story. I think that so often the conversations we have centre around how bad things are and we aren't having enough conversations about what we're trying to build towards, the positive side. So Atlas of the future have all of these different ways to communicate a different type of future and they use media in a way that is, to me the future of media.

So my story for Hope is about a young person I currently work with who suffers from agoraphobia which is a fear of leaving a space such as your home. I began working with him and slowly over time I've been able to enter the house and take him outside for a walk. Over time he also started interacting with local clubs and with their friends for the first time in three and a half years. But the real hope is that this guy has taken his fascination in nature, and the environment and is starting a business creating biodegradable round circular seed bombs that contains wildflower seeds that when thrown down pops open and hopefully increases the amount of wildflowers in our communities. This guy gives me so much hope!

When I think of hope I think of collectives who we can look to as role models. For example, the Kayapo, which is an indigenous population in Brazil (around 9000 people) or other indigenous populations, in the Amazon forest who keep fighting big powerful lobbies, to preserve the natural beauty and importance and the biological richness of the Amazon forest. I find it so inspiring and challenging to see the courage it takes to speak up for their rights in countries where their voice is not welcome.

My story of hopefulness is an organisation called Lost stock. They were formed at the beginning of the pandemic, because when the pandemic was growing, 2 billion dollars worth of clothes were cancelled across the world. These clothes had been made already in countries like Bangladesh, China and India but the fashion labels just cancelled those order which meant that the people, mainly women who had made those clothes lost their jobs with received no pay for the work that they had done. Lost stock was created to try and help that situation, enable workers to be paid and prevent clothes from going into landfill. What they did was create boxes of up to three garments, made a website where you could tell this website whether you were into neutral colours or dark colours or bright colours. You put in your size, and also whether you like to wear baggy clothes or tight clothes and for 35 pounds for a box you got three tops in the post. Lost Stock worked with a foundation called the Sadija Foundation based in Dhaka in Bangladesh who have supported nearly 114,000 people. Lost Stock has recently been rebranded to Unfolded.

I relate to the work of clover hogan and what her and her team are doing. She creates a lot of work and makes a lot of content on social media around the issue of eco anxiety which is so important. I really respect the work and heart of the younger generation coming through who are having a voice like this and putting it out there.

As the former vicar at St Andrews in Abu Dhabi my hopeful story is the Islamic Scholar, Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayah who is bringing together people from all over the world to agree that our religions and law systems should make space for equality for all. At 90 years old he is still energetic and bringing people together on that mission to try and push back against the forces of distraction and hatred.

My story of hopefulness is the story of every refugee especially Syrian refugees. Being a refugee is very hard and Syrian refugees have suffered the most horrible situations losing everything, their home, their life, their loved ones. And yet despite all of this, they kept trying to go and find a better place, across the seas, across the borders to get a better life for their children. And they all faced horrible things and it felt as if the whole world was against them, but they didn't give up. They were the hope seekers. I believe that what refugees have done is amazing because they were able to start their lives from square one, they were able to learn new languages, to work and mix with new communities. We now see Syrian food in countries like Germany, UK, America and Canada. We now see Syrian culture all around the world, being celebrated. I have seen refugees who now have great jobs, who have been great in sport, in science and in the medical field. All of these people have been through so so much but they didn't give up. All refugees are trying to tell the world about how beautiful Syria is with a great heritage and a great history. It is one of the most beautiful places in the whole entire world.

Farm Africa are my story of hopefuless. They are revitalising African agriculture and breaking the mould which has often inhibited development. They like Comaco are working to support and improve the livelihoods of small holder farmers, and at the same time protect the environment. The problems that these farmers face are all too familiar with the lack of training, technology, finance, a vulnerability to climate change and poor links to markets. This is what Farm Africa is changing by empowering and engaging with local rural communities.

My story of hopefulness, is the story of Craig Hubbard who from a business background bought a farm in Australia, and called it Shambhala farm. He got himself right into it, threw himself into the dirt, literally, and became a farmer and learned by jumping in at the deep end. While I was working on systems for small scale food production he was just working in it and learning something very complex from scratch. After 10 years or more, he feels that the most valuable thing he has now is his experience that he can share with others. And so he's created a farming school where you can learn how to create your own farm, whether it's in your own backyard or whether it's pots on a balcony. He has built a comprehensive process of sharing all the knowledge that he's learned over that period.

My story of hope are companies, that are completely devoted to the common good. There's one called Crepes and waffles which is a restaurant chain in Colombia with over 6000 employees. Although it's a multinational, Its purpose is the inclusion of single mothers in society, and in the labour markets. What's so marvellous about crepes and waffles, is that they guarantee wonderful quality of food for everybody because it's very affordable for the many social classes. They source quality foods from single mother suppliers of vegetables and fruits, and they pay them from 40 to 60% above the market value If they retain clean watercourses in the plots. They regenerate the quality of soil so when you go to these restaurants you participate in a solution which is a global need, which is bringing back the bio-diversity and cleaning up the waters.

My hopeful story starts In 2014 when I shared a conference stage with the amazing James Partridge, the founder of changing faces which is the world's foremost charity, championing the cause of those who look different. James himself suffered horrendous burns to his face and upper body in a car accident in his teens. I listened to James share that those with visible differences from trauma from congenital disorders from skin disease are often amongst the most vulnerable in our society, facing a daily grind of exclusion, harrassment and challenge in all areas of their lives from struggling to find meaningful employment and relationships. Outside the NHS, Changing Faces currently provides the UK's only free counselling and well being service for children, young people and adults with skin disease who need appearance related mental health and well being support. James died in 2020, but his legacy lives on in changing faces.

I stumbled upon my hopeful story at the Tommy Hilfiger fashion frontier programme and they were one of the finalists. It's an organisation called clothes to good and they're based in South Africa. I was so inspired by what they do. They are empowering people through using waste that would ususally be thrown away as a tool to teach people with autism or disability how to weave and make things like weighted blankets. I was just so moved to see a work that empowers people and creatively recycles and upcycles.

The person who's inspiring me most at the minute is Nadia Schick from right to Roam who are doing an incredible work around land justice and fighting for the right to roam, to access land. Nadia understands that it's bigger than that, it's about the right access of land and who owns that land, the money in that land and how the richest people hold it. it's not just about land, it's the metaphor for all things.

Patagonia is my hopeful story as a great example of what I would deem community that happened also to be a business. They have invested in employees, and made those employees feel valued with a sense of purpose and then done the same with their customers who again I don't think want to be known as customers but a part of the Patagonia community. They self impose an earth tax of 1% for the planet and they champion and defend land and water across the globe. So, something that started off to make a difference and add value to somebody's hobby is now a huge force for good in the world.