John Hope Bryant

Testimonial from HOPE Intern Carlos Prado

Hello John,

HOPE all is well and going good. I wanted to take the time and
personally thank you for everything you have done for me, your
teachings and the teachings from everyone at HOPE have taught me a
lot.

Currently, I just finished my sophomore year going onto my junior year
of high school and I doing very well in my academics with an overall
G.P.A. of 3.63 and looking forward towards college.

As for my family, my mom and dad like I have mentioned in our previous
talks are currently working hard in our family business of party
supply and we are currently trying to expand our small business.
Thanks to you and HOPE, I took my brother William to the Small
Business workshop and he implemented some ideas he got during the
workshop.

Again THANKS for everything; all the advice and opportunities you have
given me through these past 2 years. My time here with HOPE has been
above excellent and I look forward in continuing here for a while
longer. My mother sends her regards and she always says, "Gracias a
Dios que lo conociste y que Dios le bendiga por todo que nos ha
ayudado" which means "Thank the lord you met him and let the lord
bless him for everything he has done for us"

HOPE you are doing well and continue to pursue financial freedom for all.

-Carlos Prado

From the HOPE Archives: John Hope Bryant and Ambassador Andrew Young at B.E.S.T Academy

 

The Mother of Financial Literacy and Financial Dignity

This is literally my mother, Ms. Juanita Smith, but I am not simply being sentimental here.  She IS the mother of financial literacy, leading to financial dignity, that I know in my life. 

When we were growing up my mother divorced my dad, essentially over money and how decisions were impacting the children.  My dad is a good man and is the reason I am an entrepreneur today, but mom was the financial model -- and she was not playing!  I tell her story in more fullness in my bestselling business book LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based Leadership (Jossey-Bass).

My mother believed in investing her time and her money.  She accepted a job, far below her know-how and skills, as the janitor in my elementary school, just so that she could watch over me.  Before that, she started a nursery business, so that she had a (funded) excuse to spend time with me early in my formative years.  What a women.

HOPE National Board Member Stephen Ryan, Esq Becomes First Individual Donor to HOPE Fellows Program

Today I was thrilled to accept a $5,000 personal commitment from Operation HOPE national board member Stephen Ryan, Esq, partner in McDermott, Will & Emery in Washington, D.C., for a partial HOPE Fellows scholarship for 2012-2013. The Stephen Ryan-Operation HOPE Fellow, once selected, will work in the Washington, D.C. office of Operation HOPE, alongside Jena Roscoe, chief of Government Relations and Public Policy for Operation HOPE.

A special thank you to director Stephen Ryan, Esq!  We hope that countless others follow his lead in the weeks, months and years to come!

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. 

 

Operation HOPE and Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti Stand in Support of Mortgage HOPE Crisis Hotline in Los Angeles

This week Operation HOPE stood with my friend and HOPE Partner, Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti, as we announced the results of the work of the Mortgage HOPE Crisis Hotline, and stood with families and individuals who have had their lives positively impacted, and in each case their home saved, because of our work.

What most do not know is that the Mortgage HOPE Crisis Hotline, which is now national, has modified or helped to restructure more than $450 million in mortgages (half a $ billion) and served more than 100,000 individuals and familes, was originally the idea of one Eric Garcetti.  That's right -- a politician actually doing his job, as public servant.

Operation HOPE founder John Hope Bryant meets with President Bill Clinton

Today I was deeply honored to meet and spend substantive time one on one with former U.S. President (and my friend) William Jefferson Clinton, in his Clinton Foundation office in Harlem, New York.  I was also pleased to have with me Mrs. Mary Hagerty Ehrsam, our global chief of financial dignity.  Our government relations chief, Ms. Jena Roscoe who worked for President Clinton in the second term at the White House, did not join us but she was there with us in spirit.

We covered a range of items of mutual interest to both his foundations and the Operation HOPE family, both domestic and international, including the new Gallup-HOPE Index and the Gallup-HOPE Index Cities Initiative.  We actually presented President Clinton and his staff with the first draft copy of the Gallup-HOPE Index 2011 Report, which will be mailed out nationwide to leaders later this month.  We also briefed the President on the HOPE Financial Dignity Center, Ebenezer which is presently under construction in Atlanta (at the King Center complex and within th new Martin Luther King, Sr. Community Resource Complex), our new HOPE Office of Small Business & Entrepreneurship which will be formally announced to the public on my birthday, February 6th, 2012, along with our new HOPE Business-In-A-Box and the HOPE FILE Program (HOPE Fellows, HOPE Interns and HOPE Loan Executive Programs).

A Untapped Resource in Atlanta

Last week I toured the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency with its director, Ms. Deborah Lum, and to say I was impressed would be an understatement.  They do so much here for the poor, the underserved and really -- just anyone that is striving in their lives for a future that is "better," brighter and more aspirational.

The center grew and helped high students attend college under Mayor Shirley Franklin, and is doing even more under the administration of Mayor Kasim Reed.

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

Unsung Heroes for Financial Dignity: Members of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability

 

Last Thursday, January 19th, 2012, in a full capacity meeting in the Cash Room at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, members of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability met to kick off 2012 with a strong agenda and plan on behalf of President Obama and the nation.

Some of the accomplishments of this meeting included:

• A formal and Council approved recommendation by my friend and Council Partnership Subcommittee Chair Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz around financial literacy and federal employee engagement.
• An Interim Report from the full Council to President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner.

Additionally, the Council and the public heard from Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Cyrus Amir-Mokri, Council Chairman John Rogers, Josh Wright, acting director of the Treasury Office of Financial Education and Financial Access, and substantive subcommittee reports from Council members Arty Arteaga, Ted Beck, Amy Rosen and Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz.  Council vice chair Amy Rosen moderated an in-depth discussion with Alan B. Krueger, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Later, friend to the Council, Ms. Michelle Greene, vice president of corporate responsibility for NYSE Euronext and executive director of the NYSE Foundation, moderated a panel discussion with Steve Bigari, CEO of Stellar Restaurant Solutions and founder of America's Family, Brad Wenger, general manager of Hilton, Wilmington, Mary DuPont, director of financial empowerment for the State of Deleware, and Mateen Ali, senior manager of retirement and wealth strategy for Best Buy.

An Unsung Hero for Financial Dignity: John Rogers, Jr.

Most people know of John Rogers, Jr, if they are aware of him at all (he is low key and humble about his noteworthy accomplishments), as the pioneering chairman and founding CEO of Ariel Capital, which became the first multi-billion dollar investor of private sector funds into the mainstream market (featuring amongst others, the very successful Ariel Mutual Funds), led by an African-American. Others know John Rogers, Jr. as a close friend and supporter of President Barack Obama.  

I know a different, but not an inconsistent John Rogers, Jr.  

The John that I know, and have known on some level for 20 years, partnered together with Charles Schwab & Co to produce a then groundbreaking study on the net worth differences between like-income, like-educated mainstream (Caucasian), African-American and Latino middle class Americans.  The differences in net worth between the racial classes was stark and startling, with much attributed to "what" people did with their money, more so that "how much" they actually earned.  In other words, John was pushing financial literacy empowerment before it had a formal name and definition.  I personally remember this study being one of the influencers that pushed me to call for more silver rights in American life, in addition to civil rights, in the lives of low-wealth Americans; including the black and brown middle class.