John Hope Bryant

John Hope Bryant and Operation HOPE Meets with Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke

Today I was honored to meet with friend of HOPE and friend to underserved communities everywhere -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C.

Meeting with the Chairman reminded me of why we gave him our HOPE Award in the first place, when he came to speak at our last HOPE Global Financial Literacy Summit in Anacostia. The Chairman has been a big supporter of financial literacy in the past, and today I formally briefed him on what I believe comes next in the silver rights movement, or financial dignity for all. We spoke about HOPE's 20th Anniversary (May 5th, 2012), our domestic and global work, our Gallup-HOPE Index results, the Gallup-HOPE Index Cities Initiative, the new HOPE Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, HOPE Business-In-A-Box, the Wikia-HOPE Global Money Initiative, and our on- the-ground results. Separately, I discussed my new role as chairman of the new Subcommittee on the Underserved and Community Empowerment for the US President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability, a Council chaired by John Rogers. Specifically, I briefed him around our coming Local Financial Literacy Council efforts.

The Chairman has breathed confidence and a sense of stability in these times, in America and around the world. I wanted to thank him, personally. I also told him to remember that "no good deed shall go unpunished." To keep on moving forward, serving, helping.

Stay tuned for more to come from my meeting with the Chairman, and his team. Jena Roscoe, HOPE Government Relations Chief, staffed me for this important meeting.


John Hope Bryant is founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and bestselling author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass).

- Posted from my iPhone

Inspired By President' Obama's Call for Youth Jobs Now, Operation HOPE Announces Special Youth Opportunity Commitment tied to Gallup-HOPE Index Cities Initiative

Inspired by President Barack Obama's call to leading private sector and community-based organizations to act now, helping to create youth business internships, jobs and opportunity, Operation HOPE stepped forward and made a unique commitment to actually operationalize the Gallup-HOPE Index Cities Initiative, which is built around our recently launched Gallup-HOPE Index National Poll.  

Operation HOPE was honored to step forward, and to develop something that can show real results in real communities.  Here is how it works. 

On October 13th, 2011, Gallup and Operation HOPE (HOPE) released a first-ever national data poll around youth financial literacy and youth economic energy in America.  Complete summary national Index data findings can be found at http://www.gallup.com/poll/150077/students-entrepreneurial-energy-waiting-tapped.aspx.

"The short-term goal is youth jobs, but the long-term goal #1, in every major urban city, is moving cities from 77/5, to 77/20." 

The national poll had a 3% margin of error and covered the Q34 breakthrough questions, as designed by Gallup social scientists.  All of the results were both telling and compelling, and further confirmed both Gallup and HOPE's fundamental belief that aspirations, hope and opportunity, and focusing on youth's 'strengths,' rather than their weaknesses, is the key to get young people to both enroll and to become real stakeholders in their own future success. 

77/5

One of the most compelling data stat groups that seemed to jump out and distinguish itself from the national raw data, was youth responses to two critical questions:

1. 77% of all youth report that they want to be their own boss.
2. 5% of all youth report that they currently have a business internship or business mentor.

Video Summary From the Gallup-HOPE Index Forum, Washington, D.C.

 

A special thank you to Jon Carson, Derek Douglas and Heather Foster (and behind the scenes, Michael Strautmanis) from the White House, Joshua Wright from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Roy Spence, chairman & CEO of GSD&M Idea City, Jim Clifton, chairman & CEO of Gallup, Jennifer Thibeaux from the Operation HOPE Office of Innovation, Research & Assessment, young "AJ," and a host of others for making this day truly special.

A special thank you to the sponsors of the Gallup-HOPE Index, including MetaPay, E Trade Financial, Bank of the West and MasterCard, amongst others.

 

 

 

The Work of Operation HOPE for 2011

 

A special thank you to my best friend and Operation HOPE strategic advisor, Rod McGrew, for lending his voiceover skills (pro-bono of course) for this inspiring video, which was shown at the 2011 Operation HOPE Board Retreat.

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 a Member of 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. 

 

SPECIAL FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST: On Leadership: Why Financial Dignity is the New Movement for Financial Literacy

 

 

John HopeBryant

Bestselling business leadership author and philanthropic entrepreneur

I am a supporter of financial literacy. I am a constructive critic of financial literacy. Both are legitimate and essential in an honestdialogue. As HOPE Global Spokesman Ambassador Andrew Young said, "John, be skeptical, but don't be cynical. To be cynical is to be without hope."

Operation HOPE pioneered financial literacy as policy within the U.S. federal government in 2008, when we inspired then President George W. Bush to sign an Executive Order establishing financial literacy as new federal government policy, and with it the creation of the first ever U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy. I was honored to serve as vice chairman for this first council, with Charles Schwab as chairman, and to serve as chairman of the Council Committee on the Under Served.

President Barack Obama took this vision to another level; bringing to life his own Executive Order during his Presidency, and thereafter establishing the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability (on which I am proud to serve), and then the Federal Consumer Protection Bureau.

President Obama named smart people to head both, with Ariel Capital Management's extremely smart founder John Rogers chairing the Council, and my friend Professor Elizabeth Warren spearheading the foundation of and for the Bureau. I recall one conversation in particular with Professor Warren, where I asked her what she would think if I said, "financial literacy was the new civil rights issue?" Not only did she agree with me, but she went on to say that she thought that "done right," while regulatory review and policy making might consume the formative years of the Bureau, its legacy should be a new foundation of financial literacy in America. Professor Warren and I agree 100%.

Read the complete article here on the Huffington Post.

 

 

 

The Vision for the Operation HOPE Office of Small Business & Entrepreneurship

No, it doesn't exist right now as I write this, but it is our vision for our tomorrow.  The future lies so much in us understanding that what is going on around us right now, globally, is not so much a traditional recession (or traditional anything), as a reset (as I have written about before here).  

Our success moving forward will be greatly enhanced if we are willing to accept that even with all the important things our President and others are trying to do to move the economy forward, that structurally (and confidence wise) we may be stuck with 9% unemployment as a new norm for a while.  That means that many of us, and particularly those of us who come from or presently live in low-wealth and under-served communities, may need to once again embrace the spirit of small business, entrepreneurship and what I refer to as "self-employment projects" in the new America.  And this should not scare or frighten us, as small business and entrepreneurship is in many ways the foundation of America itself (along with her democracy). Or as I heard uttered in the halls and meetings at the White House recently, "a capitalist democracy."

From the HOPE Archives: Bryant and Love Leadership at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

The Kansas City Fed hosted a free Leadership Summit on April 22, featuring four distinguished speakers. These diverse experts spoke about the role of leadership in today's corporate, economic, nonprofit and public sectors. Attendees included leaders in academia, banking, business, education, government and nonprofit fields.

Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World

John Hope Bryant, founder, chairman and CEO, Operation Hope and Bryant Group Companies Inc.

	As the event's keynote speaker, entrepreneur and author John Hope Bryant's message focused on overcoming obstacles and growing as a leader. During his energetic and engaging remarks, Bryant touched on world economics, significant historical events, diversity, personal and professional relationships, and more. He concluded with questions from the audience.

Economic Leadership

Tom Hoenig, president and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Public Leadership

Kay Barnes, distinguished professor for public leadership, Park University, Parkville, Missouri

Corporate Leadership - Kansas City's Win Win Campaign

Ellen D’amato, president and CEO, The Central Exchange women's organization, Kansas City, Missouri Presentation

Bryant Briefs HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan on HOPE's Mortgage Work at White House

Following very substantive remarks around the Jobs Bill by President Obama and Vice President Biden at the White House yesterday, I had the opportunity to brief HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan around our work in and with respect to the ongoing mortgage crisis. As part of our HOPE Coalition America (HCA), emergency financial and economic disaster prepared, response and recovery division at Operation HOPE, our Mortgage HOPE Crisis Hotline has helped modify or completely restructure more than $450 million in mortgages in this crisis.

SPECIAL FROM NEWSMAX: Gallup-HOPE Index Presses for Business Education for Youths

More than three-quarters of American students in fifth through 12th grades would like to be their own bosses, yet only half report that their schools offer any classes on how to start or run a business or about money and banking, a new survey of financial literacy and entrepreneurship has found.

The Gallup-HOPE Index, the first of what is to be an annual report, was drawn from a Gallup Student Poll that surveyed 1,721 students in partnership with Operation HOPE, a nonprofit group that provides financial information to students.

Jim Clifton, the chairman and CEO of Gallup, said the information is essential in a country where jobs are not only crucial but have become a defining factor in people’s lives.

Read more on Newsmax.com: Gallup-HOPE Presses for Business Education for Youths 

 

SPECIAL FROM THE WSJ: Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs: Willing but Are They Able?

Real Time Economics

Economic insight and analysis from The Wall Street Journal.

By Brenda Cronin

A new poll reveals many aspiring successors to Steve Jobs among young Americans yet to enter the work force. However, career training hasn’t yet caught up with their aspirations.

Getty Images

To learn about the next generation of workers, pollster Gallup joined with Operation HOPE, a nonprofit that promotes financial literacy, in a multiyear survey of fifth-graders through high-school seniors about work, education and training.

According to the first findings, released Thursday morning, 77% of all students surveyed want to be their own boss; 45% plan to start their own businesses and 42% went even further, saying they agreed with the statement “I will invent something that changes the world.”

The telephone poll of 1,721 students across the country has a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points.

Read the complete story in the Wall Street Journal here.