John Hope Bryant

Banking on Our Future and 100 HOPE Corps Volunteers Bring Financial Literacy Empowerment to Silver Springs, Maryland

Recently my Operation HOPE, Washington, DC and Operation HOPE, Maryland teams came together and had a very successful Banking on our Future volunteer event at Francis Scott Key Middle School in Silver Spring, MD. There were over 100 HOPE Corps volunteers present and involved, and included employees from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Women in Housing and Finance, Capital One, Fannie Mae, M&T Bank, Bank of India, BB&T Bank, Sandy Spring Bank, Bank of America, First Mariner Bank, FDIC, City First Bank, ETrade Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of Georgetown, and FINRA.

A special thank you to my friend and financial dignity supporter, Maryland State Comptroller Peter Franchot, who teamed up with US Comptroller of the Currency Barry Wides to teach a Banking on Our Future financial literacy class. Maryland Comptroller Franchot and US Deputy Comptroller Wides also spoke to the volunteers about Franchot's mission to get each county in Maryland to adopt a graduation requirement for a financial literacy class in the senior year. Severak counties have already signed on to support this financial dignity leadership initiative of Comptroller Franchot.  Operation HOPE certainly supports him.

A special acknowledgement to Jackie Starr, who is our Operation HOPE market president for the Washington, D.C. and Maryland.

Operation HOPE, Washington, DC and Operation HOPE, Maryland are part of the larger mission of Operation HOPE, which is now a leading global provider of financial literacy to financial dignity empowerment services for the underserved, the working poor and the struggling middle class.

With 2 million clients served, 20,000 HOPE Corps volunteers, and more than $1.5 billion in private capital directed into America's low wealth and underserved communities, creating thousands of homeowners, small business owners and entrepreneurs over the past 20 years, Operation HOPE is making a difference.  But we cannot achieve our mission alone.  We cannot seek to advance the final work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., eradicating poverty and achieving a measure of economic justice for all, alone.

Operation HOPE operates the HOPE Financial Dignity Center Atlanta at Ebenezer Church, located on the campus of the King Center and as the anchor tenant of the Martin Luther King, Sr. Community Resource Complex.  Martin Luther King, Sr, or "Daddy King" as he was called, co-pastored Ebenezer Church with his son Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement, and served on the board of a bank for 40-years; a little known fact.  Daddy King was also focused on making free enterprise work for all, as his son was focused in the last years of his life on poverty eradication and economic justice.

The mission of Operation HOPE is civil rights to silver rights, or making free enterprise work for all.

 

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National Urban League's State Of Black America Finds Uneven Progress In The Pursuit Of Equality

Marc Morial, President and of the CEO National Urban League, outlines his agenda for and around 2013 State of Black America Report.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

 

John Hope Bryant, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE, serves as contributing author to the State of Black America 2013 report, focused on "Financial Dignity In An Economic Age."

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --The National Urban League's (www.nul.org) State of Black America report released today concludes that despite social and economic gains, the African-American equality gap with whites has changed little since 1963—the year of the Great March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the height of the civil rights movement.

​To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Great March, this year's State of Black America—Redeem the Dream: Jobs Rebuild America includes a 50-year retrospective analysis conducted through the lens of The Equality Index®. The report shows that while the African-American condition has improved, including achievements in educational attainment and employment, this progress has occurred largely within the Black community. Double-digit gains in education, employment and wealth contrast sharply with the single-digit gains made in those same areas compared to whites.

Report more from the National Urban League on the 2013 Report release here.

See the complete report here.

 

John Hope Bryant is an empowerment leader, the 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.

 

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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.  

My Word for 2013

Every year I pick a word, just one, that represents my goal for that year. What everything else for me, is all about. Previous words have included:

....Intentionality in 2011 (thank you Atlanta Mayor Reed. His word, he told me Christmas, 2010, was to be 'intentional,' and I immediately connected with that, but went a step further, with 'intentionality.').

....Balance in 2012

...Authenticity before that, and so on, and so on.

My word for 2013, is Empowered.

Once you have drained the negative energy (and people) out of your life and environment, filled that space with authenticity and goodness, been focused and specific about what you want next, and then made moves to achieve that.

Once you have taken steps to "reset" your life and environment, so that all of the pieces come back into it with a sort of balance --- then it is time to MOVE FORWARD, boldly in the direction of your dreams.

To fulfill the mandate and aspirations of your higher self.
To be a servant, and of service, to both society and your own soul.
To live your truth, with no regrets, and no looking backwards.
To create the life, environment, and to the extent possible, the world -- you want to live in.
The world you want your children to see, to feel, and to be bathed in the backdrop of.

This is the essence of my new commitment. My word for 2013, Empowered.

You will see a lot of it as I move through the balance of my year, integrated into the whole of what I do, what I am about, my life's journey...

What is your word for today, this week, this month, this year? What are you about, beyond paying your bills, going to work, coming home (assuming you are blessed enough to have either or both), and doing the things on your to-do list today?

Answering these questions, for yourself, is the essence of living a fulfilled life.

Okay, let's to......

John Hope Bryant

The HUFFINGTON POST ~ Solving Poverty: Atlanta in Black and Green, the Tale of Two Cities

   

John Hope Bryant

Bestselling business leadership author and philanthropic entrepreneur

As I noted in another 'Solving Poverty' piece for The Huffington Post, the new racism today is actually poverty.

Yes, it feels really bad if a racist calls you a highly offensive name, but it is completely un-dignifying when you cannot pay your rent, make your mortgage payment, or you find that your car has been repossessed by the lender while you were sleeping. You can walk away from the racist. And more so, when you know who you are, there is actually very little the racist can say or do to change the way you feel about yourself.

You cannot walk away from poverty.

The reality of poverty faces you as a parent every morning when your child looks up at you for lunch money, and as you reach into your pocket, finding only lent and marked up job wanted ads instead.

Or every time you stop for gasoline and have to stop the pump at $6, or you're at the grocery store, intent on collecting the ingredients for that special meal for your family, but finding that you are $20 short and have to put the healthiest choices back.

Poverty faces you in the unfortunately regular arguments you have with your spouse or mate (money is the number one cause for domestic abuse and divorce in America today), or the first time you have to address your teenage child, whose daydreaming about which four-year college they desperately wish to attend. And today, what I am describing is not a 'Black thing,' it's a 'green thing.'

Whether you are white, black, red, brown or yellow, today you just want to see some more green. U.S. currency, that is. We are all in this mess together.

Read, comment and share the complete article on the Huffington Post here.

 

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John Hope Bryant and Operation HOPE Team Visits South Africa This Week

I am honored to be spending the week in South Africa this week, focused on our silver rights empowerment work at Operation HOPE, South Africa, being done in more than six provinces in the country.  

While here I will be encouraging a spirit of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and what I call individual job creation (self-employment projects) amongst the generation of young people coming up today in the country.  

These young people have benefited from the incredible and life-changing civil rights justice work done by the likes of former President Nelson Mandela, and my friend Archbishop-Emeritus Desmond Tutu, but all too often these same young people are not seeing that history and tradition translate into what I would call silver rights empowerment opportunities for all, today.  And that means they are then less interested in school, less interested in their families, less interested in "doing right," and less hope for themselves. And the most dangerous person in the world, is the person with no hope.

Our financial literacy work started here 6-years ago has been helpful, and I want to publicly thank the likes of Angela Motshekga, Sean Cleary, Ambassador Andrew Young and former mayor Herman Bailey, all who encouraged me early on to start the office here.  That said, it is not enough. 

Solving Poverty: This Generation Needs An Economic Backup Plan

I recently met a very impressive young man while visiting with my father, Mr. Johnnie Will Smith, in Los Angeles, California.  This young man, who lived next door and is the son of one who helps to care for my proud and still self-powered father of 88 years young, possessed incredible vocal, musical, and even writing and producing talent.   In other words, he could not only sing and dance, he could 'think,' analyze and strategize too. The only problem with this young man's life success plan, as I shared with him, was that his primary dream plan did not have a practical backup plan.  And worse from my perspective, his backup plan, should really be his primary plan instead.  Let me explain.

Responsible rap (meaning rap that is true to its origins and roots), Hip-Hop, the broad world of celebrity, and our varied professional sports, are so very important to cultivate and carry forward as part of the larger African-American and minority success story framework for a race.  As Quincy Jones repeatedly burns into my soul and pounds into my thick head, "music, art and culture shapes the soul, helps to heal and bring together our world. They help to shape more well rounded people."  I agree with Q 100%.  

That said, having a career in music, the arts, entertainment (in front of the camera) and sports as the primary life success solution for more than 30 million African-Americans alone in this country, is just plain dumb.  Sure, a few lucky ones will make it through, but I would argue that most of them are not in fact all that 'lucky,' at the end of their career-day. A couple facts.

70% of all professional football players file bankruptcy within 5-years of retirement from the game, and there is a 100% injury rate amongst professional football players.

70% plus of all professional basketball players file bankruptcy within 5-years of retirement from the game.

And a vast majority of the "celebrity" artists, from rap to Hip-Hop and beyond, find themselves dead broke after a short, and often even highly visible career.  

JPMorgan Chase Awards Financial Dignity Nonprofit Operation HOPE Grant for Superstorm Sandy Financial Recovery

 

NEW YORK—April 11, 2013 — 

Financial dignity leader Operation HOPE (HOPE) today announced a $400,000 contribution from leading financial services firm JPMorgan Chase through the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. The grant will fund HOPE Coalition America, the nonprofit's emergency disaster and preparedness division, and will support Project Restore HOPE: Hurricane Sandy to help families, individuals, and small businesses recover from the devastating effects of the storm. JPMorgan Chase has also committed volunteers to help Sandy survivors access the resources they need to rebuild their lives.

"JPMorgan Chase is an outstanding supporter with an incredible team that truly understands that partnership, collaboration, funding and volunteer people power construct the true model for successful long-term financial recovery for Sandy survivors and HOPE is honored to collaborate with them," said Mary Hagerty Ehrsam, Chief Executive Officer, HOPE New York Market. "Project Restore HOPE, with JPMorgan Chase's support, will empower thousands of families and small businesses in NY and NJ to get back on track financially and stay strong as they recover through economic triage, financial guidance, and long-term planning. HOPE is committed to coordinating every possible resource available to support a full recovery. Working in partnership with government, community, and the private sector, we will help restore hope and rebuild lives."

Survivors will receive guidance and assistance in completing FEMA and insurance claims, deferring payments and negotiating loans, developing recovery budgets, recovering lost documents, and accessing available financial resources. HOPE will also provide continued support for these individuals after their applications have been submitted and provide long-term financial planning assistance as they begin rebuilding their finances. JPMorgan Chase employees will also volunteer their time and expertise to help deliver these services.

Read complete story here.

 

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50th Anniversary of the Letter from a Birmingham Jail, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tuesday, April 16th, 2013, not only is the date for the HOPE Forum discussion on the future of silver rights empowerment for all, at Dr. King and Daddy King's historic church, and the HOPE Financial Dignity Center Ebenezer now attached to it, it is also the very important 50th anniversary of Dr. King's famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

It is therefore very appropriate that one key Operation HOPE board member in the Southeast, Reverend Dr. Bernice A. King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., heads back to Birmingham, Alabama on this important day, in honor of her father's work and legacy.  We encourage all men and women of good will to join her there in Birmingham, Alabama.

And a friend of that movement, Operation HOPE, also stays behind in Dr. King's homebase of Atlanta, Georgia, hosting the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry (regulating more than $12 trillion in banking assets across the nation), in a continuing discussion around silver rights empowermernt for all, and how we advance entrepreneurship, ownership, opportunity and capital flow into the very low-wealth communities that Dr. King and his aide Andrew Young (now Ambassador Andrew Young), were so very concerned about.  

Support one anniversary event or the other, but in no case, should we decide to do nothing.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail was for me, arguably the best and important of Dr. King's writings.  Possibly even more powerful than his better known I Have A Dream speech in Washington, D.C.  That said, the work continues.  The work to empower and uplift the least of these God's children, even continues on the 50th anniversary of this great work, and Dr. King's great sacrifice.

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 is a thought leader represented by the Bright Sight Group for public speaking. Mr. Bryant serves on the board of directors of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE: ACRE), a specialty finance company that is managed by an affiliate of Ares Management LLC, a global alternative asset manager with approximately $59 billion in committed capital under management as of December 31, 2012. 

 

 

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