At King, Inc.’s request, OpenAI has paused Sora generations depicting Dr. King while it strengthens guardrails for historical figures. We appreciate Dr. Bernice A. King’s outreach on behalf of King, Inc., and OpenAI’s willingness to engage.

This is precisely what the HOPE AI Ethics Council was built to do: facilitate respectful, solution-oriented dialogue so communities, families, and innovators can address real harms and co-design practical safeguards. We will continue to make space for conversations where dignity, consent, and context guide product choices.

Media: media@operationhope.org

Here’s the OpenAI statement for referral: https://x.com/openainewsroom/status/1979005850166648933?s=46

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Living in the shadow of giants is never an easy task, but Dexter thoughtfully, quietly, consistently, and passionately poured himself into the work of protecting his father’s legacy and global intellectual property.  Dexter had a keen intellect, was super smart and detailed about everything he touched, and not as well known by most, he was a creative artist as well. 

On behalf of myself, my wife Chaitra, and the entire HOPE family, I extend our heartfelt sympathies to his brother Martin, his sister Bernice, his wife Leah, and the King Center community.  As friends to the King family, my heart is heavy today, and my deepest condolences go out to my friends Bernice and Martin, and their entire extended family. 

Today, the cause lost a warrior. May we all resolve to step up in his memory, and continue the unfinished work of advancing opportunity for all.

The post A Statement from Operation HOPE CEO John Hope Bryant on the Passing of Dexter King appeared first on Operation HOPE.

Last week, Chairman Bryant spent time in Cannes, France at the Cannes Lions International Festival at The Wall Street Journal House where he and Operation HOPE were the featured guests at WSJ’s Annual CMO Network Lunch, a closed-door, invitation-only event. The Cannes Lions Festival has been celebrating creativity from across the globe since 1954. Today, it is the world’s biggest festival and awards for the creative and marketing communications, entertainment, design and tech industries.

He shared the transformational work we’re doing at Operation HOPE, including our latest initiative, The 1865 Project, and our other ongoing projects including 1 Million Black Businesses and Financial Literacy for All. Together, they explored what “purpose driven” media was in the 21st century and had meaningful dialogue about how the marketing and advertising sectors could help with our mission and broader movement.

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Click here to read and watch the interview

Celebrate the message of freedom and realize the unfinished purpose of the Freedman’s Bank with this Juneteenth-inspired conversation. Click here to watch.

Let me know your thoughts below and share it with a friend.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

ATLANTA – February 1, 2023 – Operation HOPE, Inc., the nation’s largest non-profit dedicated to financial empowerment for underserved communities, today announced that Joann Massey will be joining its Senior Leadership team as Senior Vice President of the 1 Million Black Businesses Initiative (1MBB).  

Massey most recently served as the City of Memphis’ Director of Business Diversity & Compliance. In this role, she was responsible for counseling clients on business expansions, acquisitions, procurement opportunities and navigating community and government ecosystems.  Massey is also the Founder & Principal of Lewis Massey Associates, LLC, a boutique consulting  

Firm, where she previously served in a consulting role to help build Operation HOPE’s Government Relations. 

“Joann’s track record proves that she is committed to helping business owners and advocating for economic justice,” said Brian Betts, Operation HOPE President and Chief Financial Officer. “Joann is a familiar and trusted face within the HOPE family. We welcome her to the team and look forward to supporting her efforts to grow our 1MBB initiative, which provides much-needed resources to Black businesses nationwide.”  

Massey is a recognized community leader with accolades such as the Memphis Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 and Leadership Memphis Executive, among others. She holds a certificate in Economic Development from Harvard University’s Executive Education Program and a Certified Compliance Administrator certification from Morgan State University.  She is also an MBA alumna of Benedictine University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a concentration in Finance. Massey holds a dual Bachelor of Business Administration and Finance degree from LeMoyne Owen College, an Historically Black College & University (HBCU).  

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About Operation HOPE, Inc. 

Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to “silver rights” with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved—disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through its community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4 million individuals and directed more than $3.2 billion in economic activity into disenfranchised communities—turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. Operation HOPE recently received its eighth consecutive 4-star charity rating for fiscal management and commitment to transparency and accountability by the prestigious non-profit evaluator, Charity Navigator. For more information: OperationHOPE.org. Join the conversation on social media at @operationhope. 

Media Contact 

Lalohni Campbell  

Per/Se Media Group, for Operation HOPE 

la@persemediagroup.com 
 

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Social justice stands at the forefront of today’s celebration, second only to honoring Tyre’s life and his impact on those who knew him. As such, Operation HOPE remains committed to the cause of social justice through an economic lens. Together, we can help ensure that communities—and those who live in them—have the opportunity to thrive without the threat of violence. 

We are honored to have representation from the HOPE family at today’s services and extend our deepest sympathies to the family. 

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ATLANTA—October 4, 2022 – Operation HOPE, Inc., the nation’s largest non-profit dedicated to financial empowerment for underserved communities, today announced that it has established its 200^th HOPE Inside office location. This coincides with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Annual Freedman’s Bank Forum, featuring Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen and highlighting the Administration’s efforts to increase economic opportunity and growth for communities of color. Inspired by the work of Operation HOPE and HOPE Inside and at the request of its Founder, Chairman and CEO John Hope Bryant, then-Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew established the annual Freedman’s Bank Forum and oversaw the renaming of the Treasury Annex Building to the Freedman’s Bank Building.

“Today, Vice President Harris and Treasury Secretary Yellen’s participation in the annual Freedman’s Bank Forum continues to highlight the nation’s efforts to support Black and minority-owned businesses and individuals by empowering them with the tools and knowledge to create their own wealth. Since the inaugural Freedman’s Bank Forum seven years ago, this good work has continued through three different Presidential Administrations. We applaud the Treasury Department, Secretary Yellen and Deputy Secretary Adeyemo for recognizing the importance of the Freedman’s Bank mission and for continuing this legacy on behalf of the Biden Administration,” said John Hope Bryant, Chairman, Founder, and CEO of Operation HOPE. “We are proud of HOPE Inside’s parallel efforts to support low-income communities and communities of color in achieving financial empowerment. In reaching this distinct milestone of 200 HOPE Inside locations, we hope to continue building on this model, ultimately bringing our proven offerings and coaching skills to 1,000 locations across America in the next couple of years.”

Launched in March 1994, the award-winning HOPE Inside model serves clients including individuals, small business owners, disaster survivors and employees with personalized coaching and financial education to equip them with knowledge and tools to create a secure future. Programs and services are offered at no cost to the client and are administered across 200 office locations, which serve an additional 600 satellite sites. HOPE Inside locations are situated inside major bank branches to support individuals and small business owners, and inside corporations and municipal offices to serve as a resource and benefit to employees.

The latest location is in partnership with a leading commercial bank in a community with an average credit score significantly below the national and regional averages. Operation HOPE has partnered with global corporations including Delta Air Lines, UPS and Uber as well as leading global financial institutions including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Truist, US Bank, and Santander and regional banks including First Horizon, Regions and Fulton to deliver HOPE Inside programming and services for customers and employees.

As of the end of last year, HOPE Inside has served more than 4 million clients through offerings including credit and money management coaching, mortgage application assistance, entrepreneur and small business training, financial disaster preparation and recovery, and youth financial literacy programs. HOPE Inside has worked to increase social mobility and intergenerational wealth by assisting clients on their path to homeownership through securing more than $2 billion in mortgages. HOPE Inside has also helped clients increase credit scores by an average of 46 points, reduce debt by an average of $2,600 per client, and increase savings by an average of $300 per client in one year. In addition, HOPE Inside has assisted entrepreneurs and small business owners of color to secure significant funding for their enterprises.

Inspired by the model of the Freedman’s Bank, the post-Civil War savings bank created to support the financial futures of the formerly enslaved, HOPE Inside continues to address the financial needs of low-income communities and communities of color. Today, HOPE Inside operates in nearly all of the same states where the Freedman’s Bank operated in the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, and it has accelerated its growth in the post-COVID and racial reckoning period spanning the last two years.

About Operation HOPE, Inc.

Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to “silver rights” with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for everyone—disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through its community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4 million individuals and directed more than $3.2 billion in economic activity into disenfranchised communities—turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. Operation HOPE recently received its eighth consecutive 4-star charity rating for fiscal management and commitment to transparency and accountability by the prestigious non-profit evaluator, Charity Navigator. For more information: OperationHOPE.org. Join the conversation on social media at @operationHOPE.

Contacts

Bill Mendel
Mendel Communications LLC
bill@mendelcommunications.com
(212) 397-1030

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Monday awarded $51.4 million in housing counseling grants to 177 HUD-approved housing counseling agencies and intermediary organizations. This includes funding to HUD-approved housing counseling agencies that are partnering with Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), or other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The funding supports housing counseling agencies in their critical work to stem the tide of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on housing, maintain housing stability by helping families with foreclosure and rental eviction prevention, and help families make more informed housing choices. The awards also include funding to further training and education to attract and retain more housing counseling professionals.

“Whether a family is seeking affordable rental housing, buying their first home, or struggling to stay in current housing, now more than ever, housing counselors are supporting families’ housing needs,” said Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “We are pleased to announce these grants to 177 HUD-approved housing counseling agencies across the country to support their work and continue HUD’s mission to ensure every American has access to safe, stable housing.”

$49.4 million of the grants awarded today will directly support the housing counseling services provided by HUD-approved local housing counseling agencies, national and regional organizations, multi-state organizations, and state housing finance agencies. HUD awarded $3 million of this funding to 16 HUD-approved housing counseling agencies that are partnering with HBCUs, HSIs, or other MSIs. This funding is designed to expand these institutions’ roles and effectiveness in addressing the needs of their local communities and further their partnerships with housing counseling agencies. Recipients of these grants participated in the Department’s two-year Comprehensive Housing Counseling Grant Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) published September 14, 2021.

Today HUD also awarded an additional $2 million under its fiscal year 2021 Housing Counseling Training Notice of Funding Opportunity (TNOFO) published on November 2, 2021. These grants support education and training of housing counselors. The TNOFO includes training on how to provide counseling for seniors seeking Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM), and training on HUD’s housing counselor certification exam. HUD is awarding $300,000 of the $2 million to recipient organizations that will issue training scholarships to students of HBCUs, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and other MSIs enrolled in a housing counseling workforce development program.

About HUD-Approved Housing Counseling Agencies

HUD-approved housing counseling agencies provide services to address a full range of housing counseling needs. This includes assisting homebuyers in evaluating their readiness for a home purchase and navigating through the homebuying process, find affordable rental housing, offer financial literacy training to individuals and families, and provide foreclosure prevention counseling. In addition to providing counseling to homeowners and renters, HUD-approved housing counseling agencies support emergency preparedness and disaster recovery efforts, assist homeless persons in finding transitional housing, and help seniors determine whether a HECM or other reverse mortgage makes sense for them.

There are many ways to locate a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. Visit HUD’s website or call (800) 569-4287 for our interactive telephone directory.

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Nation’s largest non-profit dedicated to financial literacy partners with 25madison Venture Studio and Shopify to support Black Businesses

More than $100,000 committed toward investing in innovative Black entrepreneurs

ATLANTA (November 10, 2021) – Operation HOPE’s 8^th Annual HOPE Global Forums (HGF) kicked off with its One Million Black Businesses Initiative (1MBB) Pitch Competition, hosted by Operation HOPE & Shopify, along with 25madison Venture Studio. Held at Atlanta’s Hyatt Regency, this is the first of 1MBB’s ongoing pitch series to create, scale, and grow new Black businesses across the US. All in, participants received commitments toward more than $100,000 in funding, including surprise matching pledges and challenge grants from HOPE Ventures and Ambassador Andrew Young, among others. Each finalist will benefit from access to 1MBBs ongoing coaching, technology and support as they continue to innovate new markets. 

During the competition, entrepreneurs pitched to a panel of judges for a chance to win a $10,000 cash prize or be a Shopify Green Bag Winner, which includes the development of a professional e-commerce site designed by Shopify Plus Partner Parkfield Commerce. In addition to John Hope Bryant, Operation HOPE Chairman, Founder, and CEO, the panel of judges included Sara Raffa, Director of Business Development at 25madison, Reggie Love, Senior Advisor at Apollo Global Management, Pinky Cole, Founder and Owner of Slutty Vegan, and Jayson Brown, Senior Lead of Merchant Success at Shopify. A video recap can be found here.

Following a competitive pre-qualifying process with more than 100 submissions, the three inaugural 1MBB pitch finalists were:

• Megan Graham, owner of Ries, won the cash prize of $10,000. Ries is a sustainable beauty brand redefining how people correlate beauty and travel. The company is committed to reducing plastic waste through its launch of travel-size toiletry containers that are reusable, leakproof, washable and made from FDA-approved, earth-kind materials. Ries has reengineered the functionality of travel bottles, creating reusable and refillable solutions that are also dishwasher safe and TSA-friendly. 
• Oluwakolapo Smith, owner of All I Do Is Cook, was the Shopify Green Bag Winner. The start-up company delivers frozen ready-to-eat African meals, condiments, pastries, and specialty beverages to customers’ doorsteps all over the US. To address the problem of not having Nigerian/African food nearby, All I Do Is Cook adopted a tech-enabled omnichannel distribution method (DTC + retail stores) to give the consumer more convenience, accessibility, and a better range of options for African flavors.
• Temeka Norris, owner of Capable Clothing, received potential funding through a matching program during the event. As a registered nurse, Norris wanted to assist caregivers with lifting and turning patients. Inspired by the mission of Capable Clothing, various investment partners pulled together to help Norris reach her capital goal of $250,000, including a $50,000 matching grant investment from HOPE Ventures as well as $20,000 commitment from Pinky Cole and Slutty Vegan, among others.

“Operation HOPE’s 1MBB pitch competition showed us what the bright future of Black businesses looks like. This is the perfect case study for what they can do for this country – especially when we give them the support needed to be true disruptors,” said John Hope Bryant, Operation HOPE Chairman, Founder, and CEO. “These Black business owners are looking to change the world. Through 1MBB, we plan to walk with them every step of the way.” 

Today, only 9.5 percent of businesses in the US are Black-owned. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of working Black business owners has fallen more than 40 percent – a far deeper drop than other racial groups. For more information about 1MBB, please visit: HOPE1mbb.org. 

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About Operation HOPE, Inc.

Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to “silver rights” with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved—disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through its community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4 million individuals and directed more than $3.2 billion in economic activity into disenfranchised communities—turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. For more information: www.OperationHOPE.org. Follow the HOPE conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About 1MBB

Launched in October 2020 with founding partner Shopify, 1MBB aims to remove traditional hurdles to Black entrepreneurship and encourage more aspiring Black business owners to start – and scale – by providing them with the tools, resources, and education needed to succeed. To level the playing field, 1MBB will focus on critical tools for business growth such as technology and resources, educational programs, and the opportunity to access capital. Through this program, Black business owners can sign up for Operation HOPE’s award-winning model of community uplift, financial literacy and education, with access to tailored tools and resources upon graduation. To learn more about 1MBB, visit HOPE1mbb.org. 

Media Contact:

Lalohni Campbell, Operation HOPE

404-593-7145

la@persemediagroup.com

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ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Operation HOPE today announced that civil rights icon Ambassador Andrew Young and Shopify President Harley Finkelstein have joined the HOPE Global Board of Advisors.

“As the last living link to the incredible journey for social and economic justice started by Dr. King so many decades ago, we are truly honored to have Ambassador Young share his wisdom, perspective and brilliance to help guide us on this unprecedented journey forward.”Tweet this

Ambassador Young, Chairman of the Andrew Young Foundation and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, U.S. Representative and Mayor of Atlanta, and Mr. Finkelstein, President of Shopify, the leading global commerce company powering more than one million entrepreneurs and businesses, join a distinguished Board that consists of some of the country’s top executives in business, banking and the non-profit and NGO sector. HOPE Global Advisory Board members provide guidance and support for Operation HOPE in its commitment to provide financial literacy education and economic empowerment for individuals and small business owners living in under-served communities.

Ambassador Young has been the long-time Global Spokesman for Operation HOPE as well as the Co-Chair and regular speaker at the HOPE Global Forums Annual Meeting. Mr. Finkelstein and Shopify recently partnered with Operation HOPE to launch the HOPE One Million New Black Business & New Black Entrepreneurship Initiative (1MBB) with a goal to help create one million new Black-owned businesses in the U.S. by 2030.

As President of Shopify, Mr. Finkelstein oversees the company’s commercial teams, growth and external affairs. He previously served as Shopify’s Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining the company in 2010, he founded numerous startups and ecommerce companies. Recently, he received the Canadian Angel Investor of the Year Award, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, and was inducted into the Order of Ottawa. Harley has also served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the C100. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Concordia University and a J.D./M.B.A. from the University of Ottawa.

Ambassador Andrew Young was a key confidant and strategist to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the critical years of the civil rights movement. In 1972, he was elected to represent Georgia’s 5th district, the first African-American elected from the South since Reconstruction. He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, the first African-American to do so. In that role, Ambassador Young established the framework for international negotiations that led to democracy in several nations in Southern Africa. Ambassador Young served as Mayor of Atlanta from 1982-1990, bringing jobs and $70 billion in private investment to the City during a recession. His leadership, vision and global reputation were instrumental in bringing the Centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta in 1996. Ambassador Young retired from GoodWorks International, LLC, in 2012 after well over a decade of facilitating sustainable economic development in the business sectors of the Caribbean and Africa. Ambassador Young has received honorary degrees from more than 100 universities and colleges in the U.S. and abroad. His many awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the NAACP’s Springarn Medal and France’s Legion d’honneur, the nation’s greatest honor.

“I am extremely pleased and honored to welcome Harley Finkelstein and Ambassador Andrew Young, two exceptional leaders and friends of Operation HOPE, to the Global Board of Advisors,” said John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Operation HOPE.

“Harley Finkelstein personifies the ‘PhDo’ approach I speak of regularly, and through his leadership at Shopify, has helped to supercharge our 1 Million Black Business Initiative. Harley does not see a differentiating line between heart and head, or morals vs money. He sees them, as I do, as integrated – that you can do the right thing, ignite growth for people, the private company, and country together. I love the way he thinks, and even better, how he leads.

“Like most of us, I have known ‘of’ Ambassador Young for most of my life, but getting to ‘know’ Ambassador Young as the incredible citizen of the world that he is has been one of the great gifts of my life. Ambassador Young has served as our Global Spokesperson for over a decade, and has been instrumental in the significant growth Operation HOPE has experienced.

“Ambassador Young is my personal hero, and a true moral role model for all who desire to prove that we are one family, living in different home addresses. This is how Young lives his life, as a giver. He has also proven that decency and dignity, and consideration of others, when running and building an economy, works better than most any other model. This was the case during his time as mayor of Atlanta, or co-chair of the Atlanta Olympic Games, or serving on the board of Delta Airlines, convincing them to fly to Africa for the first time. Atlanta is now the biggest economy in the southeast, and the only international city in the American South, and Delta Airlines, one of the best airlines in the world.

“As the last living link to the incredible journey for social and economic justice started by Dr. King so many decades ago, we are truly honored to have Ambassador Young share his wisdom, perspective and brilliance to help guide us on this unprecedented journey forward.”

“John Bryant and Operation HOPE have developed an approach to America that starts with the least of God’s children, offering people a hand-up, not a hand-out. I see the work of Operation HOPE as picking-up where we left off in the great struggle for Civil Rights. It has been an honor to serve as Global Spokesperson for Operation HOPE, and I look forward to contributing further as a member of the Global Board of Advisors,” said Ambassador Young.

“I am incredibly honored to join the HOPE Global Board of Advisors,” said Harley Finkelstein. “I’ve been a longtime admirer of the pivotal work that John and the HOPE team have been championing. I look forward to furthering my and Shopify’s commitment to helping break down barriers to entrepreneurship and providing the tools for success to underrepresented small business owners.”

About Operation HOPE, Inc.

Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to “silver rights” with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved—disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through our community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4 million individuals and directed more than $3.2 billion in economic activity into disenfranchised communities—turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. Project 5117 is our multi-year four-pronged approach to combating economic inequality that aims to improve financial literacy, increase business role models and business internships for youth in underserved communities, and stabilize the American dream by boosting FICO scores. Operation HOPE recently received its sixth consecutive 4-star charity rating for fiscal management and commitment to transparency and accountability by the prestigious non-profit evaluator, Charity Navigator. For more information: www.OperationHOPE.org. Follow the HOPE conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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