John Hope Bryant

Operation HOPE 21: Telling The Story of Our Founding

21 years ago, this day, May 5th, 2013, the bold vision of and for Operation HOPE was born in South Central Los Angeles, immediately following the Rodney King Riots of April 29th, 1992.

"Rainbows, after storms.  You cannot have a rainbow without a storm first."

After the Rodney King verdict came down, so many things just went dark in the community I loved so much. The community I still love.  But not all things were negative, in the days and weeks and months that followed.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters and her local leadership group, led by Brenda Shockley as I recall, stood up their vision of and for Community Build. Today, Congresswoman Waters serves on the financial services committee for Congress, continuing to push her agenda for her people.

Then City Counciman Mark Ridkey-Thomas, who today is an esteemed and accomplished lead member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.  I fondly remember Supervisor Ridley-Thomas for so many reasons, but a couple stand out for me.  Mark (as I respectfully call him as a friend) served on our first board of directors for Operation HOPE. I remember our parting conversation. It was our first letterhead. We were committed to "eradicating poverty across America," and Mark (Ridley-Thomas) wanted to eradicate poverty and empower people IN THE 8TH DISTRICT!  We were both right, but Councilman Ridley-Thomas was more right than me.  He was 100% focused on empowering and serving the people in the district he was elected to serve.  This impresses me now, as much as it impressed me then.  I was sad to see Ridley-Thomas leave our board back then, by I so respected "why" he did it.  I also got the phrase "With HOPE," which has become my global signature sign-off statement on all correspondence, from Mr. Ridley-Thomas.  Finally, back then I would say that Ridley-Thomas was the only sitting elected official who really knew and understood community development, community empowerment, and the power of financial dignity in one's life.  

Silver Rights Empowerment Factoid

In 1843, Henry Jones and 11 other German-Jewish immigrants gathered in Sinsheimer's Café on New York's Lower East Side to confront what Isaac Rosenbourg, one of B'nai B'rith's founders, called "the deplorable condition of Jews in this, our newly adopted country."

Thus, B'nai B'rith (children of the covenant) was born.

The original members' first concrete action was creating an insurance policy that awarded members' widows $30 toward funeral expenses, and a stipend of one dollar a week for the rest of their lives. Each child would also receive a stipend and, for male children, assurance he would be taught a trade.

HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway Explains How to Start a Dignity Day

Our friend and Global Dignity co-founder HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway narratives this inspiration video on how YOU can launch a Dignity Day session in your city, your community, your school!  

To get involved with Global Dignity Day 2012, on October 17th, 2012, go to the Global Dignity website or let project leader Shannon Campbell know of your interest.

Okay, let's go...

John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies, Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass), the only African-American bestselling business author in America, and is chairman of the Subcommittee for the Under-Served and Community Empowerment for the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, for President Barack Obama.  Mr. Bryant is the co-founder of the Gallup-HOPE Index, the only national research poll on youth financial dignity and youth economic energy in the U.S. He is also a co-founder of Global Dignity with HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Professor Pekka Himanen of Finland. Global Dignity is affiliated with the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the World Economic Forum.   Mr. Bryant serves on the board of directors of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation, an NYSE Euronext publicly traded company, and a division of $54 billion Ares Capital.

Operation HOPE Expands Reach to Include Financial Inclusion Meetings Worldwide

Global sessions to culminate this November at the HOPE Global Financial Dignity Summit in Atlanta

 

LOS ANGELES – August 9, 2012 – Operation HOPE announced today the expansion of Local Financial Dignity & Inclusion Working Group Meetings to include government, community, faith, academia and private sector leaders of underserved communities around the world. Through HOPE’s technology, meetings will be recorded and included in the global Financial Dignity & Inclusion eLibrary to create a solution-based reservoir for financial dignity, financial inclusion and economic empowerment.

Read the complete story here at Operation HOPE.

 

Operation HOPE to Begin Hosting Financial Inclusion Meetings Nationwide

Leading up to its highly anticipated HOPE Global Financial Dignity Summit, Operation HOPE plans to bring community, government and private sector leaders together in a series of important Local Financial Dignity & Inclusion Working Group Meetings to develop solutions for the future of free enterprise and capitalism. The meetings, recorded and included in the global Financial Dignity & Inclusion eLibrary developed by HOPE, will be delivered in a final report to the President of the United States in January 2013.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) July 24, 2012

Financial dignity nonprofit Operation HOPE announced today a plan that brings community, government and private sector leaders together in a series of Local Financial Dignity & Inclusion Working Group Meetings where participants will share thoughts and develop solutions for the future of free enterprise and capitalism for all. All meetings will be recorded and included in the global Financial Dignity & Inclusion eLibrary.

The Local Financial Dignity & Inclusion Working Group Meetings, designed to be inclusive of a broad range of voices and perspectives across America and internationally, from deep grassroots to corporate, government, academia and faith, will have only one rule and one objective; no complaints without associated recommended solutions, and framing the future. Specifically, a positive future vision of how we make free enterprise and capitalism work for all in a reset world.

“Financial dignity is the goal, financial inclusion is the way, and financial literacy is one of the many vitally important tools,” said HOPE Founder, Chairman and CEO John Hope Bryant.

The meetings will culminate at the HOPE Global Financial Dignity Summit in November.

Operation HOPE Puts Atlanta Center Stage As Seat for Nonprofit’s Global Financial Dignity Summit

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to provide keynote remarks;

HOPE Global Financial Dignity Co-chairs, former Atlanta Mayor Ambassador Andrew Young and HOPE Founder John Hope Bryant slated to speak

 

THE SILVER RIGHTS MOVEMENT MEETS THE 21ST CENTURY AGENDA

 
ATLANTA – Silver Rights empowerment nonprofit Operation HOPE (HOPE) continues its 20-year anniversary celebrations, announcing today U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will headline its inaugural HOPE Global Financial Dignity Summit in Atlanta, November 14 – 15, 2012. Co-chaired by HOPE Founder, Chairman and CEO John Hope Bryant and former Atlanta Mayor and Civil Rights Icon, Ambassador Andrew Young, the event is expected to bring over 1,000 delegates from more than 50 countries worldwide.  

 

Young, who also serves as HOPE Global Spokesman, is a featured speaker for the event, Bryant will also play a key speaking role. William H. Rogers, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer SunTrust Bank is also set to lend remarks.

 

Against the backdrop of today’s global economic crisis, the summit is designed to help “turn the page,” toward viable long-term, systemic and sustainable economic solutions.  The theme of conference is Community, Character and Responsible Capitalism. The topics will examine how free enterprise and responsible capitalism can actually be used as a powerful tool to empower and uplift the underserved and the working class, as well as to grow and to stabilize a middle class.

 

The two-day event begins Wednesday, November 14, with a HOPE Opportunity Community Bus Tour, followed by the Grand Opening of the HOPE Financial Dignity Center at Ebenezer (on Community), and the Global Dignity Forum (on Character), and the first day will conclude with a reception at the Atlanta Airport Marriot Gateway, concluding with the HOPE Global Summit on (on Responsible Capitalism) at the Georgia International Convention Center on Thursday, November 15.

 

Read about the complete global summit here.

Why I Decided I Would Just Love Everyone

It is not just that looking at a photo like this one inspires you beyond belief, and gives one a sense of the enormous potential of one world -- or even that a photo like this one just seems so natural. I have decided to love the world, because the world is me, and I am she.

Thanks to my friends at African Ancestry, a few years back I took a DNA test and "discovered" my own ancestry.  To my pleasant surprise, I was 71% Cameroon (in Africa), and actually from the same village as my mentor and friend Quincy Jones (what is the likelihood of that...), 26% European, and the rest of Indian, Asian and "other."  That meant to me, that if I somehow found a way to hate white folk, I would be hating myself. If I found a way to hate Asians, Indians or anyone else for that matter -- I was again hating myself.  It dawned on me that most everyone on the planet -- you included -- are of "mixed race" -- and that this fact made racism and discrimination base on race the silliest thing imaginable.

It also made me chuckle.  No longer would I have to prepare a moral speech for say the Grandmaster of the Klu Klux Klan.  I could simply give him a DNA test and await the results.  The likelihood that he has some measure of Black blood running through his veins is extremely high, and my guess is that he would just lose his mind from there (smile).

CGI America 2012: John Hope Bryant on Creating New Pathways to Opportunity | Operation HOPE Blog

 

CGI America 2012: John Hope Bryant on Creating New Pathways to Opportunity | Operation HOPE Blog.

Bryant on Leadership: Hate Doesn't Kill, But 'Radical Indifference' Will

"The issue today is not love over hate, as it was during the civil rights movement of the 1960's.  In many ways, some could say that Dr. King had it better, in the sense that individuals let him know precisely where they stood; making it plain that they loved and backed him, or they hated and rejected him.  ...Today, increasingly, people do not care enough about you to hate you. I call this radical indifference. When someone does not care enought about you, to hate you."

A few years back, a young black man approached me, knowing that I had a minor relationship with the late and former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, saying "hey John, that man -- former President Reagan -- he was a racist man...."  I had to reject what this young man had to say, while embracing the young man and his pain, and understandable frustrations.  To this man, President Reagan didn't care about him and his plight, and thus, he simply 'must be' a racist.  I had a different take on the problem.  I also saw a possible opportunity within this same problem, and decided to try to enroll this young man up in my vision, for what 'could be.'

I explained to the young man that I knew then President Reagan, though admittedly not that well. Enough to say I respectd him. I was a young man myself, like the one I was speaking with, when I was acquainted with this Administration. I explained that Reagan and I were actually born on the same day, and as such, I especially appreciated his ability to inspire, even while many listening to him might actually disagree with what he was talking 'about.'  

I went on to say that I thought that then President Reagan was basicallty 'a nice man.'  I don't think that anyone becomes President of the United States of America, wakes up the next morning and then says to himself, "now, how can I screw up America and hurt her people?"  They may screw up, and they may make incredibly damaging decisions and mistakes, but we have to beleive that they do basically mean well. If we don't, if we stop trusting the basic intent of our national leaders, then well all bets are off anyway.

I went on to explain that I was not at all crazy about most of Reagan's social policy framework for the least of these God's children (and there was no real economic policy framework to even be insulted by). I explained that in most cases I simply respectfully disagreed with the Administration.  I learned long ago from my pastor, friend and spiritual father, Reverend Dr. Cecil "Chip" Murray, "you can disagree, without being disagreeable."  

The Next Banking Boom: The 2.5 Billion Unbanked Worldwide

Of the 5 billion adults in the world, staggeringly, only half have a bank account.

This is one of the huge findings from a global poll by the World Bank and Gallup, funded by the Gates Foundation. The report, by World Bank economists Asli Demirguc-Kunt and Leora Klapper, is brilliant.

This big finding means that 2.5 billion people are “unbanked,” therefore not participating in modern economic life. Advanced countries can feed them, clothe them, rush them medicine, school them -- but those people will never experience sustainable human development until they’re integrated into the global channels of buying and selling. Simply put, they need access to money and credit, and they need to have a bank account.

Read the complete and compelling story below.

The Next Banking Boom: The 2.5 Billion Unbanked Worldwide.