When we started Hope Now, the only Christians I knew who had had any street experience were a few young men from at-risk backgrounds who were in Alpha Gamma Omega Fraternity. Although none had been gang members, I recruited staff from those friends I knew, my fraternity brothers in AGO. Adrian Reyes and Khetphet "KP" Phagnasay were college students who accepted this crazy challenge to have a part-time job reaching gang youth. As there was no African-American in AGO who needed this risky part-time job, I asked a pastor friend, the Rev. Paul Binion, to suggest someone. Quion Calip was his recommendation and became our choice to complete the original staff. Like the others, he was attending college and only wanted a part-time job. So we began on February 1, 1993 with a Mexican-American, Asian-American, and African-American street staff. Leading this bi-American team into uncharted territory was this Armenian-American, an Executive Director who knew little about the streets and less about creating a viable nonprofit organization.

Employing collegians turned out to have several advantages we discovered as we went along...

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