The fifth installment in the HOPE Forum series, “Financial and Economic Disaster Recovery: People, Preparedness and the Price”, will explore the impact of natural disasters and national emergencies on the economy and how Americans can better plan for unforeseen calamity.
W. Craig Fugate was confirmed by the US Senate and began his service as Administrator of FEMA in May 2009. At FEMA, Fugate has promulgated the “whole community” approach to emergency management, emphasizing and improving collaboration with all levels of government (federal, tribal, state, and local) and external partners, including voluntary agencies, faith based organizations, the private sector and citizens.
Operation HOPE Hosts Top Medical Leaders for Discussion about Preventive Health and Affordable Health Care
ATLANTA, May 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recognizing National Women's Health Week, Operation HOPE (HOPE) hosted U.S. Surgeon GeneralDr. Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA for a discussion on the relationship between physical and fiscal health in America. The Surgeon General was joined by Chief Medical Officer of Centene Corporation Dr. Mary Mason and Chief Medical Officer of Peach State Health Care Dr. Dean Greeson. Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, dean and executive vice president of the Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) moderated the discussion at the Operation HOPE Financial Dignity Center at Ebenezer in Atlanta.
As the fourth installment in the HOPE Forum series, the event covered the important topic of "Investing in Your Health." The in-depth discussion explored the impact of health care on the economy and how individuals can invest wisely in personal health to improve the nation's overall well-being.
Dr. Benjamin, who has served as the U.S. Surgeon General since 2009, spoke in great detail about the significance of preventive health measures and promoted her pet project, "Walking to Fitness," a new campaign she is helping to lead.
Operation HOPE Founder and CEO, John Hope Bryant underscored the linkage between physical and fiscal health for individuals and families, especially those in underserved communities.
Medical leaders to discuss national healthcare plan and responsible investments in health
ATLANTA – May 2, 2013 – Operation HOPE (HOPE), the financial literacy and empowerment nonprofit, will host U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjaminfor “Investing in Your Health,” a HOPE Forum exploring the impact of healthcare on the economy and solutions to improve the nation’s overall wellbeing. Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, dean and executive vice president of the Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) will moderate the event on May 17 at the Operation HOPE Financial Dignity Center at Ebenezer in Atlanta.
The third installment on the HOPE Forum series in Atlanta, “Investing in Your Health,” will discuss the relationship between physical and fiscal health in America and how to invest wisely in personal health. The Forum will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 17 at the HOPE Financial Dignity Center, Ebenezer, located at the Martin Luther King, Sr. Community Resource Complex at 101 Jackson Street, NE. Operation HOPE Founder, Chairman and CEO, John Hope Bryant will also participate in the Forum.
Dr. Benjamin has served as surgeon general since 2010. She is the former associate dean for Rural Health at the University Of South Alabama College Of Medicine in Mobile and past chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States. In 1995, she was the first physician under age 40 and the first African-American woman elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. She has served as president of the American Medical Association Education and Research Foundation and chair of the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs.
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.
Other key leaders join for critical dialogue about financial services for underserved communities on 50th Anniversary of Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail
ATLANTA, April 16, 2013-- Operation HOPE will host its latest HOPE Forum on Tuesday, April 16th at the HOPE Financial Dignity Center, housed at the Martin Luther King Sr. Community Resources Complex at Ebenezer, led by the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry, Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell and other key Atlanta and financial industry leaders. This discussion focused on how to develop financial services and effective new models to serve underserved, under-resourced and low-wealth communities in a new-era banking environment. To read the Comptroller's remarks, click here.
Curry assumed his role as administrator of national banks and chief officer of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in April 2012. He is responsible for the regulation and supervision of more than 2,000 financial institutions, managing over $10 trillion in assets, which represents more than 71 percent of the total commercial banking assets in the nation. The Comptroller also serves as a director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and NeighborWorks® America.
An authentic, thoughtful and caring leader with a direct impact on more than $12 trillion in banking assets, is precisely the sort of transformational leader we need to see more of in inner-city, rural and under-served communities in America. For me, it is all part of a growing movement and body of work, from civil rights justice, to civil rights empowerment for all.
But the visit to Atlanta and the HOPE Center Ebenezer, located within the larger Martin Luther King, Sr. Community Resource Complex, across from the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, was not a celebration of the vast economic progress that has been made since Dr. King's Letter From A Birmingham Jail. There has been progress, no doubt. Quite a bit in fact, but grossly uneven in its impact; even amongst African-Americans. A room full of Black prosperity is to be celebrated, but it not absent the reality of Black poverty and the unbanked which could be found less than 2 blocks away.
Frankly, much of what Dr. King attempted to deal with and address through his Birmingham Movement work, could very well be applied to the economic conditions today in both Birmingham, Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia.
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.
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 ofLOVE 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 theGallup-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.
