John Hope Bryant

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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New Jersey.Com: First Lady Mary Pat Christie announces $600K grant to Operation HOPE for Sandy relief

First Lady Mary Pat Christie, pictured here last year, announced today that the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund will provide a $600,000 grant to Operation HOPE.Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger 

Nj.com

BRICK — Just two months after Marie O’Boyle and her family moved into a ranch-style home in the Cherry Quay section of Brick, Hurricane Sandy struck. Two feet of water flooded the home.

More than five months later O’Boyle is still waiting on her settlement from her flood insurance company, while her and her husband debate how to rebuild in the most economical way.

"We’re just really having a dilemma about whether to knock it down and put up a modular or rebuild altogether or to raise the existing structure," O’Boyle said. "It’s a complex issue. We keep going back and forth on it."

A grant from the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, which is chaired by First Lady Mary Pat Christie, aims to help residents, like O’Boyle, navigate the maze of financial questions that linger for thousands of people affected by the Oct. 29 storm.

"It’s such a labyrinth in terms of what you are allowed to get whether you raise your house, whether you knock it down, whether you got this amount of money from insurance, and it’s hard to figure out all that," Christie said.

The nonprofit group Operation HOPE will try to help storm victims answer those tough questions through its Project Restore HOPE initiative, which received a $600,000 grant from the relief fund. Christie announced the grant today at the recreation center in Brick Township, where one of up to six centers across the state providing free financial counseling will be located.

Read the complete article here.

 

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First Lady Mary Pat Christie announces $600K grant to Operation HOPE

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HURRICANE SANDY NEW JERSEY RELIEF FUND | cnbnews.net

After Sandy Roundup: Pallone wants $193M for fishing; Relief Fund hands out $600K

From the Video Archives: John Hope Bryant Speaks at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Men's Day, 2009

Ebenezer Baptist Church Men's Day from operationhopedotorg on Vimeo.

 

 

John Hope Bryant and Operation HOPE at SEDCO Holdings, Saudi Arabia: Sparking the Entrepreneurship Generation

 

CNN Highlights Operation HOPE, Banking on Our Future and the Power of Financial Literacy on Inner-City Decision Making

 

This video piece from CNN, which is scheduled to air this week, clearly shows the power of financial literacy and financial dignity in the lives of inner-city youth and their decision making. The piece also features new friend to HOPE Russell Simmons, who was a closing speaker at our recenty HOPE Global Financial Dignity Summit on November 14th-15th, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Check it out and let CNN know what you think.  Write them a letter and share the video through socal media with family and friends.  Let's start a new conversation with and for our youth.

This is a new silver rights empowerment movement for a new generation of future leaders.

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. 

Bryant Reflects on Alabama Tornadoes: It Killed More Than Lives

I am so very pleased that Operation HOPE will soon be able to move its 'silver rights' empowerment agenda, and specifically our HOPE Office of Small Business & Entrepreneurship work focused on nurturing and bringing up growing small business, minority small business and entrepreneurship in the state.  I am particularly thankful to leaders in and out of the state that encouraged our engagement on the ground there in the weeks and months following these devastating tornadoes.  Finally, I want to thank the U.S. Economic Development Administration and its leadership for the federal support here, which will be amplified by and further supported with private sector support. More on our plans in and for the state and her people to come.

That said, I was so distressed that in the period immediately following the worst tornadoes recorded in the southern states, and Alabama in particular, Operation HOPE and I were not in a position to help. Ultimately, I was actually a little disappointed in myself.  We followed all the rules.  I and we waited to make sure we had covered all the appropriate bases, paid respect to all leaders at the state, county, city and local level, and we covered all the appropriate protocols as a national partner for FEMA around emergency financial disaster preparedness, response and recovery. We even opened up our national call center for HOPE Coalition America based in Poway, California, a donation made available through our partner CoreLogic.  And yes, of course we helped each and everyone of those that called us.  But what we should have done is different.  

We should have -- no I should have -- simply placed HOPE staff on the ground, immediately and at our own expense if need be. But we did as we were counseled, and on that point I am glad we paid our proper respect to leadership.

What breaks my heart are the countless thousands of poor and struggling low-wealth individuals and families, be they white, black or brown, who never had an opportunity to access the immense federal resources that were available to those impacted by the disaster; from enhanced FEMA support, to low-interest SBA loans for rebuilding, to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).  Furthermore, there was the that work I believe we could have done between survivors of disaster, along with the banks, credit unions, insurance companies and other private companies with which we have strong working relationships, and that had substantial investment in the state.  Work such as that we completed successfully for more than 200,000 survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

Operation HOPE, Alabama Planned to Help Those Impacted by 2011 Tornadoes

$400,000 in federal funds to help businesses hurt in April 2011 tornadoes

Concord was one of the hardest-hit communities in the Birmingham area during the April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak. (Joe Songer/jsonger@al.com) (Birmingham News file)

The U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration today announced a $400,000 grant to help Birmingham area businesses hurt in the April 2011 tornadoes.

The grant will go to Operation Hope to establish the Alabama Small Business Disaster Recovery Program. 

The storms reduced Alabama's GDP by as much as $1.3 billion and resulted in the loss of between 5,600 and 13,200 jobs statewide, according to estimates from the University of Alabama.

Read the complete story from Dawn Kent and Alabama.com here.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

John Hope Bryant Shares Vision on Banking On Our Future

 

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?