PASTOR COREY BROOKS: I'm building hope on Chicago's notorious South Side

I am leading Project H.O.O.D. as it builds a center in Chicago to inspire change, offering programs in STEM, arts, and entrepreneurship for a brighter future for local youth.

Pastor Corey Brooks, known as the "Rooftop Pastor," is the founder and Senior Pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago and the CEO of Project H.O.O.D. (Helping Others Obtain Destiny), the church's local mission. He gained national attention for his 94-day and 343-day rooftop vigils to transform the notorious "O-Block," once known as Chicago's most dangerous block, into #OpportunityBlock. Learn more at ProjectHOOD.org.

I know this might sound cliched for the more cynical folks, but there is nothing cliched about hope in my neighborhood. As I mentioned earlier, we have had generations of children born into a world where they know the government as one of their parents. So, by building this center we are teaching these children that anything is possible and attainable. The blight they were born into does not have to be permanent. They can be the change just like I decided one day to be.The beauty of this center, once built, is that it will help them develop into intelligent and developed individuals with ambitions for a good career and life. Inside those beams and boars, there will be job training, financial literacy, trauma counseling, trade school, music and arts center, a STEM lab, entrepreneurship accelerators, and a private Christian school for boys who have been written off by the system.