About HOPE

HOPE has raised over $500 million dollars, and served more than one million individuals, in 68 U.S. communities and 6 provinces in South Africa.

HOPE has been ringing alarm bells with respect to the state of our financial illiteracy, and the vulnerability this creates for community, stability and economy, for 17 years now. With the present global impact of the economic crisis, reaching all socio-economic levels from the poor to the middle class, the work of HOPE has never been more relevant.

In 2009, HOPE is focused on the following Big Ideas:

The FIVE MILLION KIDS Initiative

The Five Million Kids Initiative, also known as 5MK, is focused around a massive, coordinated national initiative to invest in America's human capital - our youth and our families in low-wealth communities - to re-brand education and "Make Smart Sexy" again.

We believe that children are dropping out of high school because they don't see education as relevant to their future. We also believe that the best way to make education "relevant" to their future is to show children how to get rich, legally through financial literacy; the language of money, free enterprise capitalism, and ownership. For children with an unfortunate public record, no matter how smart they are may find it difficult in the short term to pass a standard background check at a major corporation. In such instances, the viable option for them may be "entrepreneurship."

5MK is chaired nationally by icons Quincy Jones and Ambassador Andrew Young, and 5MK is also a new national partner with America's Promise.

HOPE National Partnership with the White House Office of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

In an effort to address the second largest group of bankruptcy filers in the country, college students, and work to alleviate the number one reason that black college students drop out of college, Banking on Our Future, College Edition (BOOF, CE) will reach and teach college students in predominately historical black colleges and universities (all 105 HBCUs), teaching them the same core elements of financial literacy that students in HOPE Banking on Our Future, classroom learn. The Banking on Our Future College Edition Program will be fully localized and infused into the campus environment in an effort to reach and teach students and to empower them to take control of their financial future.

HOPE National Partnership with the Church of God in Christ

In America you cannot have a genuine movement in low-wealth communities without the black church. The civil rights movement (about race and the color line) was rooted in the 20th century black church, and the silver rights movement (class and poverty) will help empower the 21st century black church. Operation HOPE and 6 million member, 12,000 church strong Church of God in Christ is leading a nationwide, 5-year effort to finally make free enterprise and capitalism relevant to the poor, and finally work for the poor and the under-served.

The collaborative strengths of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and Operation HOPE will result in providing relevant financial literacy that will encourage youth and young adult members of COGIC churches and COGIC communities to make informed financial decisions. The COGIC Urban Initiative includes financial literacy training as a priority in every church, and Operation HOPE has the ability to expand capacity and deliver youth and young adult financial literacy in all major metropolitan areas of the United States.

HOPE National Alliance with the SBA Office of Entrepreneurship Education

Individuals living in urban low-wealth communities are natural entrepreneurs. For many, such as those with a prior public record, entrepreneurship may be their only viable long-term choice. Furthermore, entrepreneurship is good for under-served communities where innovation, opportunity, essential services, jobs and a tax base are needed the most. Entrepreneurship is at the heart of the American story, and will likewise be the soul of America's urban renewal, and the empowerment of her under-served and low-wealth populations.


Inspired by the U.S. President's Council on Financial Literacy, Committee on the Under-Served, the U.S. SBA launched the SBA Office of Entrepreneurship Education in 2008. The HOPE Banking Center Network will work closely with this new office to create and operationalize a culture and knowledge base of entrepreneurship in low-wealth communities nationwide.

HOPE’s advocacy directly inspired financial literacy as U.S. federal policy in 2008, and the subsequent creation of the non-partisan U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy.