John Hope Bryant

A Teacher-Leader Testimonial on our work from Operation HOPE South Africa

 

 

 

Good Afternoon Mr John Bryant  I do hope that I find you well. I would like to thank you for sparing your time and effort to come and address my learners at Sandtonview Combined School, on Monday the 22rd of April 2013. Your presentation was so inspiring to me as the Educator/Teacher at the school working with the learners everyday and to the learners at large. Its always good to hear from the "best of the best" in entrepreneurship in the world. We as a school were so fortunate and privileged to say the least. According to your stuff members, this was a first in South Africa where a programme was started and we were first to have a one on one conversation with the founding father of the organisation.    I would like extend my sencere gratitude to you once again for giving one of my learners, the opportunity of a lifetime, a paid internship with your organisation on completion/graduation. This has already motivated the youngster to even do better in his school-work and in terms of his behaviour right here at school. All the young business learners are so earger to follow in your footsteps and that of your partner Natasha Foreman. The opportunity that you have given these learners is on that they will never forget in their lifetime. In addition I have also learnt, in my personal capacity as an Educator, various life changing lessons through your presentation. Your use of Twee and George in the selling of drugs and their death brought tears to my eyes. You know why? Its just because I am sitting in this classroom in front of my learners, some of whom are already using these drugs and its painfull as you see them destroying their own lives and what you tell them they do not even listern to you due to a variety of factors. Sir, your example on pregnant school girls, a reality that I see each and every teaching day of my life. I keep hoping that the ones that I have managed to inspire and brought to Operation Hope's Banking On Our Future programme will be inspired as iI did and be able to take their lives into a better future. Alutah continua with "Operation Hope" in South Africa and through-out the world as it is the only vehicle that will drive hunger and under-development from our continent.  May the Almighty protects you from all forms of evil so that one day I will meet you again and relieve to you my own personal life journey that I would have travelled. Regards Ganyiwa Isaac Educator: Sandtonview Combined School, South Africa

 

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Operation HOPE, South Africa Report Card 2013

I was inspired to spend a week with my HOPE, South Africa team last week, and found that they have made significant progress around our original promise of instilling and embedding principals of core consumer protection amongst a vulnerable population of women and children.  

Going forward, we will be forging a bold new agenda focused on both consumer protection, and consumer empowerment too -- all leading to local GDP, jobs, small business ownership, entrepreneurship, and important in Africa, creating a generation of what we call "self-employment projects."

Here is a summary of our Operation HOPE, South Africa team's impressive results on the ground there:

• 40,752 youth and adults educated and empowered with financial literacy over the past 5-years.
• 1,739 youth and adults educated and empowered during the first quarter of 2013 alone.
• Approximately 2,000 HOPE Corps volunteers recruited, trained and mobilized in South Africa alone.
• 65 partners supporting our work, inclusive of Sanlam Insurance, our lead signature partner, Citi, the Banking Association of South Africa, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Peace Corps South Africa amongst others.
• Operation HOPE and Banking on Our Future embedded into 60 local schools throughout South Africa.

From the civil rights justice of Nelson Mandela's bold generation of leaders, to the silver rights empowerment agenda available to this one, Operation HOPE is committed to the future prosperity of this great country, and the African continent overall.

Let's go.

John Hope Bryant

 

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Rich Food for the Soul ~ Images and Voices of Global Dignity Day, Brazil, 2013

 

Last year I traveled at the invitation of our Global Dignity Brazil Country Chair, Young Global Leader Ms. Christina Lopes, to participate in their Global Dignity Day celebrations in and for Brazil (more than 50 countries participated on October 17th, 2012 around the world).  I had no idea what I was in for, but when you witness the spirit of the energy of these young people, you cannot help but to be moved.  I actually was hesitant to watch this video, because I knew that I would be both sad, and inspired at the same time. I knew I might cry.  All were true, but ultimately, I was left with an immense feeling of hope for them, for Brazil, and for our world.

Two Brothers Traveling in Europe. Moving Around From South Central to the South of France and Back

Introducing my friend Shawn A. Miles, Senior Vice President, Group Head, Global Public Policy & Regulatory Strategy Counsel, for MasterCard Worldwide.  We hear so many stories about disappointing young African-American men these days, but so rarely do we celebrate the success stories of those literally changing the paradigms by and through the way they live their lives.  Such a positive, empowered, getting-it-done role model, can be found in the name of one Shawn Miles.  

"It takes 20 years to change  culture.  In the last 20 years we have made dumb sexy.  In the next 20 years we need to make smart sexy again."  

I am proud to call him a good friend, a board member for Operation HOPE in the Northeast, and through his engagement, his CEO Ajay Banga at MasterCard Worldwide, along with other leaders at MasterCard Worldwide, the company is a strong, long-term supporter of and partner with our work.  But there is yet another reason I find personal pride and reason to celebrate Shawn.

Shawn is the only young African-American professional male I know, not bouncing a ball or hitting one (in sports), or singing into a microphone (a recording artist), that I actually might run into regularly traveling through some foreign airport in the world -- doing his job. And as I see so few African-American male professionals on my international travel map, they are easy to find, see and remember.  Just this week I found myself in Oslo, Norway, while Shawn was simultaneously emailing me while traveling through Warsaw, Poland.

Two good brothers (well, at least one -- Shawn, smile), traveling from South Central, South Bronx, South Detroit, to South France, South Africa and back.  

Global Dignity Country Chairs at Work in Oslo, Norway

The 2013 meeting of Global Dignity Country Chairs in Oslo, Norway is off to a strong start. We have 36 Country Chairs to date, and a dozen of them are represented in the room, including Indonesia, Bangladesh, Finland, Uganda, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Pakistan, Brazil, Norway and the United States of America, amongst others.

The best is yet to come. Our goal for 2013, is 50 GD Country Chairs.

A special thank you to the World Economic Forum and the Young Global Leaders for also supporting the meeting with key staff.




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.

From the Video Archives: John Hope Bryant Visits Lillestrøm High School (February 12, 2013)

 

John Hope Bryant, co-founder of Global Dignity Day, visited Lillestrøm High School on February 12, 2013, to give a speech about role models, dignity and making a difference, as a guest of the US Embassy in Norway.

A special thank you to US Ambassador to Norway Barry White and the U.S. State Department.

 

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What Operation HOPE does differently around youth financial education is really our delivery approach, which is right brain-left brain, or behavioral economics first.  Operation HOPE has teed up the largest urban delivery system for financial literacy education, and with it financial dignity empowerment, in the country. Increasingly, other countries as well.

Today, Operation HOPE and our award-winning Banking on Our Future program is the largest youth urban delivery system in American for financial literacy education and financial dignity empwerment tools, programs and services.

John Hope Bryant, founder, Operation HOPE

 

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Saluting Operation HOPE's Own Mary Hagerty-Ehrsam

 

Mary Hagerty Ehrsam is the Chief Executive Officer of Operation HOPE-New York, and the Division President of the HOPE Youth Empowerment Group for Operation HOPE, Inc. (HOPE) where she has served for 14 years.

Prior to HOPE, Mrs. Hagerty Ehrsam began her career in community economic development and poverty alleviation with the Los Angeles affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. During her tenure with Habitat, Mrs. Hagerty grew the affiliate from a $35,000 annual budget to $3.2 million and constructed sixty-four homes in partnership with recipient homeowners and a global network of volunteers.  She was responsible for the development and implementation of the strategic plan, the volunteer program, and provided overall management of corporate programs, major donor relations, special events, and political and public relations.

US Embassy, Norway: Obama adviser and Global Dignity co-founder John Hope Bryant meet with youth in Oslo

February 12, 2103

John Hope Bryant is the CEO of non-profit Operation HOPE, a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability and the co-founder of Global Dignity. (Photo: U.S. Embassy)

Students at Lillestrøm High School gave Hope Bryant spontaneous applause and cheers throughout his speech, and said they felt inspired by his energy and personal approach. (Photo: U.S. Embassy)

On the morning of February 12, the U.S. Embassy had the pleasure of having John Hope Bryant visit Oslo. Bryant is, among many other things, the founder, chairman and CEO of non-profit Operation HOPE, a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability and the co-founder of Global Dignity together with Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon.

The day started with a breakfast dialogue meeting at Ambassador White’s residence Villa Otium with a group of young Norwegians involved with various non-profit organizations. Bryant talked to them about the importance of being a good role model in your community, and shared some inspiring stories from his own life.

Bryant went on to visit Lillestrøm high school, where all the 350 11th grade (VG1) students were waiting for him in the school aula. It is fair to say that Bryant mesmerized the crowd with his stories on dignity; in fact, the students gave him spontaneous applause and cheers throughout his speech, and said they felt inspired by his energy and personal approach. Lillestrøm high school takes Global Dignity Day very seriously, and has organized the Day at their school the past three years. The visit of Bryant was a nice reminder of the message of dignity, which according to Bryant is a non-controversial concept we can all agree on and work towards the realization of.

The following day, John Hope Bryant traveled to Trondheim to be a key note speaker at the International Student Festival in Trondheim (ISFiT).

Read the complete and original story here.

 

Media Report: Bryant Speaks Before ISFiT 2013 Global Youth Conference in Trondheim, Norway

adressa.no

TOR 14.02.2013

21:13

TRONDHEIM

ISFIT 2013:

Se foredraget til Obamas rådgiver

Adressa.no sender direkte fra Isfit-møtet i kveld.

Den internasjonale studentfestivalen i Trondheim (Isfit) har mange møter å by på i løpet av de elleve dagene festivalen varer. Kveldens arrangement handler om sosialt entreprenørskap - Nyskapende løsninger på verdens mest akutte problemer.

John Hope Bryant tok initiativ til Global Dignity Day. Onsdag kveld holdt han foredrag på Samfundet.

Trykk på play-knappen på videoen for å se møtet fra Storsalen på Studentersamfundet i Trondhjem fra klokka 19.00.

Det er ikke bare internasjonale organisasjoner og myndighetene i de ulike landene som forsøker å komme opp med gode ideer. Isfit ønsker å presentere noen av de sosiale entreprenørene som gir sitt beste for å gjøre verden til et bedre sted.

Kveldens talere er:

• James Fierro (CA), grunnlegger og administrerende direktør i Recipco, the Capacity Exchange. En alternativ transaksjonssystem som reduserer en organisasjons behov for kontanter eller kredittkort.
• John Hope Bryant (US), er grunnlegger, styreformann og administrerende direktør i den amerikanske organisasjonen Operation HOPE som jobber for å utrydde fattigdom og styrke mennesker som mangler økonomiske ressurser i amerikanske samfunn. Han har vært aktiv rådgiver for president Barack Obama. Han var sammen med kronprins Haakon og Pekka Himanen initiativtakere til Global Dignity Day.
• Celine d'Cruz (IN), koordinator for Slum Dwellers International, et nettverk av samfunnbaserte organisasjoner bestående av de urbane fattige som har utviklet en vellykket mobilisering og problemløsende strategier.

MER Å LESE: Se deltakernes egne Isfit-minner

MER Å LESE: Har du ei seng, noen brødskiver og hjerterom?