Operation HOPE Blog

Matthew Bishop and Michael Green have written an insightful look at past and present financial crises in their Random House book The Road From Ruin: How to Revive Capitalism and Put America Back on Top.

The book, while looking at the current world economic crisis, is actually a history lesson. Green and Bishop look at past economic failures, like the Tulip Mania of 1636 and the British South Sea economic collapse of the 1700’s to get insight on where we are today and how we should handle it.

After giving the reader a concise economic history lesson, the authors look forward and discuss the direction we need to go in if we are to get out of this current economic downturn successfully.

One interesting thing about the book is that Green and Bishop don’t pretend to have all the answers, they disagree with each other and even disagree with themselves. The book, if anything, seeks to start a dialogue and a creative discussion on where we should go next.

One issue the authors do agree on is that of raising our collective IQ’s. “We teach civics in our schools to prepare children for the responsibility of being citizens. Yet we have done little to make people competent economic citizens.”

Obviously, Green and Bishop are in line with Operation HOPE’s mandate to provide children and adults with financial literacy and economic empowerment so as to work towards HOPE’s ultimate goal to eradicate poverty.

The Road From Ruin from Bishop and Green is currently this months Huffington Post Book Club selection. It can be found at http://www.theroadfromruin.com/buy-the-book

Congressman John Lewis returned to the Edmund Pettus Bridge yesterday with 10,000 others to remember the violent events that took place there 45 years ago.

Civil rights leaders and activists, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, started their peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama on March 7, 1965 to protest racist voting practices. The group was met by Alabama State Troopers who summarily beat the protesters in the event now referred to as “Bloody Sunday.” The march was later completed under federal protection with Martin Luther King, Jr. at the helm.  The effects of the march led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which opened Southern polling places to blacks and put an end to all-white governments.

President Obama marked the anniversary by remembering “those heroes” who marched on that day and endured personal beatings in a desire to change a nation. Obama stated that while much has changed since “that terrible day in Selma” much more work still needs to be done - especially in education. In his speech yesterday, Obama said that we need to focus on, what he called, the achievement gap.

“Blacks are less likely in their schools to have adequate funding. We have less-qualified teachers in those schools. We have fewer textbooks in those schools. We got in some schools rats outnumbering computers. That’s called the achievement gap, said the president.

Operation HOPE is trying to fill that achievement gap with the launch of its 5MK initiative.  Co-chaired by Civil Rights Leader and Operation HOPE Global Spokesman Ambassador Andrew Young, the program tries to involve community leaders, students, teacher and community at large to keep kids in school and help them see that their education is relevant. “There are too many kids dropping out of high school and we all need to do something about it,” said HOPE Founder, Chairman and CEO John Hope Bryant.

For more information about 5MK check out the website at www.5MK.com or check out the blog at www.5mk.org/blog

Operation HOPE Global Initiative intern Ashita went to LA Conservation Core and taught to a group of high school students about the basics of money management. Here’s what the native from Mumbai had to say about the experience:

“I went to teach financial education to high school students as a HOPE corps volunteer. I was delighted to see children grasping the financial concepts so easily, understanding its relevance in real life and taking part actively in whole curriculum. I was thrilled to see their inquisitiveness and interest in topics being presented to them,” said Ashita.

“Banking on Our Future empowers students so that they are able to plan their finances. Knowledge of saving money and spending money are the most important aspect which they should understand. Learning these concepts early will keep them from possible missteps in the future.”

Operation HOPE thanks you Ashita for volunteering as a HOPE Corps volunteer and helping us spread the “language of money.”

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) one of the world’s largest professional services firms, is committing 525 intern volunteers and making a $50,000 donation to Operation HOPE to improve youth education and financial literacy.  Support for education initiatives is part of PwC’s strategic corporate responsibility commitment.

Students at Crown Point Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina were the first to benefit from the program. The initiative will go towards 5MK’s mission to inspire five million kids through financial literacy and dignity.

Launching on March 1st, the program will crisscross America over the next two weeks. The pledge of support brings committed time, resources, volunteers, financial support and HOPE to thousands of youth.  Embracing their mission of corporate responsibly, 525 high performing PwC interns will go into classrooms and teach the Banking on Our Future (BOOF) financial literacy curriculum.

The partnership supports a massive effort which involves 5,000 students to receive lessons in financial empowerment from March 1st-15th, 2010. The “BOOF in a Day” sessions will be taught by PwC interns in 18 cities nationwide, including Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Jose, and Washington, DC.

John Hope Bryant visited employees at the SunTrust Baltimore Headquarters today where he shared his perspective in an all day event entitled, “Are We There Yet? A Past and Present Perspective of African American Empowerment.”

The talk, moderated by reporter Bobby Marvin, of the Baltimore Afro-American Newspaper, enlightened audiences to Bryant’s journey as a homeless young man to his founding of America’s leading nonprofit social investment and financial literacy organization. Following Bryant’s “conversation” was a question answer period lead by Levonia Wiggins, SunTrust Bank Greater Washington/Maryland African American Diversity Team Lead.

“Dr. King realized that in order to achieve equality in America, all men not only needed to be treated equal but needed equal opportunity as it pertains to access to capital and the understanding of how a free market works, “ said Bryant.

SunTrust Bank has been a long supporter of Operation HOPE and its mission to bring “silver rights” to the underserved. In June 2009 they provided event support for the HOPE Global Financial Literacy Summit held in the Washington, DC’s historic Anacostia.