Operation HOPE

The organization was mentioned in a 2017 investigation into the handling of financial settlements during the Obama administration by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Operation HOPE was among the left-of-center nonprofits the Obama administration allowed financial institutions paying government settlements to fund instead of directing payments to the U.S. Treasury. ¹

History

Venture capitalist John Hope Bryant founded Operation Hope in 1992 to “disrupt poverty” and generate economic inclusion through free financial education programs and consulting services. ² Operation HOPE purports to fight for financial literacy, capital access, and equal financial opportunity. ²

Bryant founded Operation HOPE in response to the destruction caused by the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and the organization has since directed more than $3.2 billion in financial activity for over 2.8 million low-income individuals across the United States. ^{3 4} Operation HOPE operates over 550 locations with the help of 4000 organizational partners and over 26,000 volunteers. ³

Operation HOPE lists an extensive list of high-power partnerships, including relationships with Bank of America, the Coca-Cola Company, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo among other institutions, cities, and organizations. ⁵

Present Activity

Operation HOPE is currently working to achieve “Project 5117,” a four-year approach to reducing economic inequality. ² The approach includes educating five million young adults through “financial dignity” programs, empowering one million youth through career programs, establishing 1000 HOPE Inside locations to expand programming, and facilitating “700-Credit-Score-Communities” in the United States. ²

HOPE Inside

HOPE Inside is the cornerstone of Operation HOPE’s programming, operating out of banks and storefronts across the United States to provide free financial counseling on credit management, homeownership, disaster recovery, and more. ² Since beginning its work in 1992, Operation HOPE has provided financial literacy training to 1.8 million adults. ⁶

Operation HOPE’s Credit and Money Management Initiative aims to help low-income individuals improve their credit scores. This is tied to the organization’s Homeownership Initiative, which helps low-income individuals to purchase homes. Since 1992, Operation HOPE has helped to secure over $1 billion in residential mortgages for 11,000 people. ⁷ Operation HOPE has been criticized for its work in residential mortgages, with individuals claiming that the organization pushes banks to give “dignity loans” to unqualified mortgage applicants, leaving those with new mortgages trapped in debt which they are unable to repay. ^{1 8}

Aside from providing personal financial consulting services, Operation HOPE also organizes a 12-week Entrepreneurship Training Program to provide free consulting services to individuals seeking to open a small business. ⁹ The program has reached over 75,000 people who have created 710 new businesses. ⁹

Youth Initiatives

Operation HOPE is involved in providing financial education to young people, creating the curriculum for Banking on our Future, a financial literacy program for students in grades 4-12. ¹⁰ The program is delivered in over 4000 school systems and community centers in the United States by over 26,000 volunteers and has trained one million students so far. ¹¹

Operation HOPE also supports the development of youth businesses, creating a business startup program for young entrepreneurs, providing over $103,000 in grants, and helping to start over 300 youth businesses. ¹²

Partner Organizations

Operation HOPE has partnered with the American Red Cross, Citizen Corps, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide financial responses in the wake of disasters. ^{13 14} The project, called HOPE Coalition America (HCA) provides a disaster preparedness guide, in addition to providing financial response to 160 disasters in 35 states as of 2019. ¹⁴

Operation HOPE has an extensive list of several thousand partners, including nonprofit organizations, corporations, and government entities. Operation HOPE has partnered with several left-of-center organizations, including the Clinton Foundation. ¹⁵

Obama Administration “Slush Funds”

In August 2017, former Trump administration Attorney General Jeff Sessions launched an investigation into up to $6 billion in legal settlement money that officials in the Obama administration allegedly steered toward progressive organizations and left-of-center advocacy groups. ¹ According to the investigation, Obama administration Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch would routinely allow large corporations to make “donations” to left-of-center organizations during settlement negotiations to end federal lawsuits against the companies. ¹ Because these organizations were not party to the lawsuits, lawmakers argued that all $6 billion in 2013 settlement agreements with Citigroup and Bank of America should have gone directly into the United States Treasury. Instead, $3 billion of these funds were directed towards left-leaning community organizing groups. ¹

The $17 billion settlement with Bank of America gave “extra credit” to the corporation if it donated $100 million or more to groups approved by the Obama administration Department of Housing and Urban Development. ¹ Operation HOPE was designated as an approved recipient of the funding, alongside several prominent left-wing organizations including Hispanic-interest group UnidosUS and spinoffs of the controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) organization. ¹

Sessions announced an end to the practice of third-party settlements, but no civil suits or criminal charges resulted from the investigation. ¹⁶

People and Funding

In 2017, Operation HOPE had a $15.3 million budget with $8.3 million in net assets. ^{17 18} Though Operation HOPE is not required to reveal particular donors, nearly all of its revenue came from grants and contributions in 2017, with $1.7 million in government grants and $13.9 million in all other gift contributions. ¹⁹

Operation HOPE boasts a decorated advisory board, featuring figures like MSNBC president Phil Griffin, Ford Motor Company’s Henry Ford III, and American Express president Jonathan Polk among other banking and financial executives. ⁵

John Hope Bryant is the founder, CEO, and chairman of Operation HOPE. ⁵ In addition to founding Operation HOPE, Bryant is the chairman and CEO of Bryant Group Ventures and the Promise Homes Company. ⁴ Bryant has served as an advisor to President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama, and President Donald Trump. ⁴ He is a founding member of the Clinton Global Initiative and a member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network, in addition to authoring three books. ⁴