Bestselling business leadership author and philanthropic entrepreneur
In the 50 years since the civil rights movement and Dr. King's dream, one problem (racism) has been replaced or at least matched by another -- poverty. Urban poverty, rural poverty, and poverty that hits blacks, whites, browns and others alike. As I have said previously in the Huffington Post, poverty is the new racism. If you are poor, everything pretty much sucks.
The old model of racism was based on race and the color line. The new model of racism is rooted in class and poverty. The old racism was obvious in signs that read White Only, from the southern states in the U.S. to South Africa. The new racism is more obvious in Misery Row.
Whether it is a feature on a boulevard in an urban city or a rural town, or whether it is at the entrance of a military base, the Misery Row looks pretty much the same. Predatory check cashers, next to rent to own stores, payday lending stores, title lending stores, and liquor stores.
One group of financial predators takes advantage of your financial problems and misfortune, while another associated group benefits by helping you to forget you actually have any.
Recently my Operation HOPE, Washington, DC and Operation HOPE, Maryland teams came together and had a very successful Banking on our Future volunteer event at Francis Scott Key Middle School in Silver Spring, MD. There were over 100 HOPE Corps volunteers present and involved, and included employees from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Women in Housing and Finance, Capital One, Fannie Mae, M&T Bank, Bank of India, BB&T Bank, Sandy Spring Bank, Bank of America, First Mariner Bank, FDIC, City First Bank, ETrade Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of Georgetown, and FINRA.
A special thank you to my friend and financial dignity supporter, Maryland State Comptroller Peter Franchot, who teamed up with US Comptroller of the Currency Barry Wides to teach a Banking on Our Future financial literacy class. Maryland Comptroller Franchot and US Deputy Comptroller Wides also spoke to the volunteers about Franchot's mission to get each county in Maryland to adopt a graduation requirement for a financial literacy class in the senior year. Severak counties have already signed on to support this financial dignity leadership initiative of Comptroller Franchot. Operation HOPE certainly supports him.
A special acknowledgement to Jackie Starr, who is our Operation HOPE market president for the Washington, D.C. and Maryland.
Operation HOPE, Washington, DC and Operation HOPE, Maryland are part of the larger mission of Operation HOPE, which is now a leading global provider of financial literacy to financial dignity empowerment services for the underserved, the working poor and the struggling middle class.
With 2 million clients served, 20,000 HOPE Corps volunteers, and more than $1.5 billion in private capital directed into America's low wealth and underserved communities, creating thousands of homeowners, small business owners and entrepreneurs over the past 20 years, Operation HOPE is making a difference. But we cannot achieve our mission alone. We cannot seek to advance the final work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., eradicating poverty and achieving a measure of economic justice for all, alone.
Operation HOPE operates the HOPE Financial Dignity Center Atlanta at Ebenezer Church, located on the campus of the King Center and as the anchor tenant of the Martin Luther King, Sr. Community Resource Complex. Martin Luther King, Sr, or "Daddy King" as he was called, co-pastored Ebenezer Church with his son Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement, and served on the board of a bank for 40-years; a little known fact. Daddy King was also focused on making free enterprise work for all, as his son was focused in the last years of his life on poverty eradication and economic justice.
The mission of Operation HOPE is civil rights to silver rights, or making free enterprise work for all.
21 years ago, this day, May 5th, 2013, the bold vision of and for Operation HOPE was born in South Central Los Angeles, immediately following the Rodney King Riots of April 29th, 1992.
"Rainbows, after storms. You cannot have a rainbow without a storm first."
After the Rodney King verdict came down, so many things just went dark in the community I loved so much. The community I still love. But not all things were negative, in the days and weeks and months that followed.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters and her local leadership group, led by Brenda Shockley as I recall, stood up their vision of and for Community Build. Today, Congresswoman Waters serves on the financial services committee for Congress, continuing to push her agenda for her people.
Then City Counciman Mark Ridkey-Thomas, who today is an esteemed and accomplished lead member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. I fondly remember Supervisor Ridley-Thomas for so many reasons, but a couple stand out for me. Mark (as I respectfully call him as a friend) served on our first board of directors for Operation HOPE. I remember our parting conversation. It was our first letterhead. We were committed to "eradicating poverty across America," and Mark (Ridley-Thomas) wanted to eradicate poverty and empower people IN THE 8TH DISTRICT! We were both right, but Councilman Ridley-Thomas was more right than me. He was 100% focused on empowering and serving the people in the district he was elected to serve. This impresses me now, as much as it impressed me then. I was sad to see Ridley-Thomas leave our board back then, by I so respected "why" he did it. I also got the phrase "With HOPE," which has become my global signature sign-off statement on all correspondence, from Mr. Ridley-Thomas. Finally, back then I would say that Ridley-Thomas was the only sitting elected official who really knew and understood community development, community empowerment, and the power of financial dignity in one's life.
HCA has more than 1,000 professionals committed to provide volunteer financial case management and counseling, along with my team, for those impacted. The lead volunteer partner for Sandy work is JP Morgan Chase, which has been incredible with more than 600 committed HOPE Corps volunteers leaning into this important work.
HCA is a national partner with FEMA for emergency financial and economic preparedness, response and recovery for the nation. For more information on our Hurricane Sandy response work, how you can get involved, or get help, contact Fred Smith, division president for HCA. Also important to the process is Mary Hagerty, CEO of Operation HOPE NYC and my NE leadership officer.
A special tank you to Michael Arougheti, principal of Ares Management of Manhattan, and a national member of the Operation HOPE board of directors. It was Mr. Arougheti who spearheaded the corporate effort to get corporate leaders engaged and involved in our Sandy recovery efforts in the weeks following the disaster. His leadership will be forever remembered, and much appreciated.
Washington, D.C. and our nation need strong and effective leadership today more than ever. Congressman Mel Watts seems to fit that description to me. Important to me, one of my key employee's family was a constituent of the then Congressman in Charlotte, North Carolina, and they uniformly endorse him. I am told that while Congressman, Mr. Watt encouraged the local adoption of our Banking On Our Future, College Edition Program, where we educated college students in North Carolina on financial literacy. This suggests a man who doesn't just talk about things, but seeks to do thing too.
Congressman Watt has over 20 years of congressional experience on the Financial Services Committee, where he sponsored and/or co-sponsored economic empowerment legislation around homeownership, consumer protection, entrepreneurship, small business, and financial literacy. He understands the needs of prospective homeowners, the practical interests of the private sector, and the necessary role of the federal government.
Bestselling business leadership author and philanthropic entrepreneur
I just returned from an inspring, and in parts equally frustrating trip to South Africa, supporting my on-the-ground team working for Operation HOPE, South Africa.
Inspiring because, well who would not be inspired by all that is South Africa. The cultural richness, the spirit of the people, and the energy present wherever you go. Or the natural beauty of the place, all the untapped resources, and the incredible opportunity to create real, even transformational change throughout the country. And all the stories...
The young boys and girls we spoke with me in a local school, who once exposed to the concept of entrepreneurship, vowed to keep both their heads and their grades high until graduation. They wanted very to become their own job in the future (owning their own business). Imagine looking out over a sea of young 16 year-olds, witnessing for yourself a new generation of committed entrepreneurs, job creators and leaders being born. Inspiring indeed.
Or the elderly women whom we met at a cheetah observation park who proudly announced to us that she had achieved an 'NQ4 financial business management designation' from the local Cape Technical College, allowing her to become (her description here) an "advanced and better skilled" small business owner. This wonderful lady was selling handmade South African products under a covered tent at the cheetah park, but for her this might as well have been a ritzy brick and mortar facility in downtown Cape Town. She was anowner of her own destiny, and she even made me feel this immense sense of pride she had, in doing for herself. An pride of creating her own job.
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."
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.
ATLANTA – April 18, 2013 – Financial dignity leader, Operation HOPE announced today that it has received a $200,000 grant from The UPS Foundation, the charitable arm of the UPS (NYSE:UPS) in support of Hurricane Sandy financial disaster recovery assistance and youth financial literacy programs Banking on Our Future (BOOF), Fellows Interns & Loaned Executives (FILE), and HOPE Businesses-in-A-Box (HBIAB).
"This $200,000 commitment by UPS Foundation builds from previous commitments to financial literacy and empowerment," said Latresa McLawhorn Ryan global vice president of strategic partnerships and development. “This funding will help provide us provide financial recovery assistance and guidance for small business and individuals affected by Hurricane Sandy, and continue our youth financial dignity programs.
Since its formation in 2001, the result of a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, HCA has helped more than 300,000 individuals and small business recovering from 33 disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Florida Hurricanes, tornados and flooding in southern and mid-western states and Hurricane Sandy.
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.
I am honored to be spending
the week in South Africa this week, focused on our silver rights empowerment
work at Operation HOPE, South Africa, being done in more than six provinces in
the country.
While here I will be
encouraging a spirit of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and what I
call individual job creation (self-employment projects) amongst the generation
of young people coming up today in the country.
These young people have
benefited from the incredible and life-changing civil rights justice work done by the likes of former President
Nelson Mandela, and my friend Archbishop-Emeritus Desmond Tutu, but all too
often these same young people are not seeing that history and tradition translate into what I would call silver rights
empowerment opportunities for all, today. And that means they are then less
interested in school, less interested in their families, less interested in
"doing right," and less hope for themselves. And the most
dangerous person in the world, is the person with no hope.
