Operation HOPE, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping low-and moderate-income Americans thrive in an ever-changing economy, announced today that its Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Hope Bryant has been recognized by TIME Magazine in its latest cover story on “The Closers” – a list of 18 Black leaders working to close the racial wealth gap. The list was published on February 1, 2024 to kick off Black History Month and was featured on the February 12^th cover of the iconic publication.

Mr. Bryant was honored for his founding of Operation HOPE in the wake of the 1992 L.A. riots and leading the organization to becoming a prominent nonprofit providing no-cost financial counseling and coaching in 300 offices serving 1,000 locations across the U.S. TIME Magazine also recognized Operation HOPE’s innovative initiative in partnership with Shopify to provide Black entrepreneurs with the tools to build their own businesses with the goal to create one million Black businesses by 2030. Mr. Bryant was previously recognized by TIME in 1994, having been selected for inclusion in the inaugural “50 for the Future,” list, predicting 50 people under the age of 40 who were the most promising leaders for the future.

“Operation HOPE has been committed to using financial literacy to help close the racial wealth gap for more than 30 years, and we are honored to be recognized for this work alongside so many other titans in our community working toward the same mission,” said Mr. Bryant. “Our work at Operation HOPE continues with more responsibility than ever as the U.S. economy becomes more and more reliant on the workforce and consumer spending of minorities over the next 30 years. We believe economic empowerment is essential for every American’s future.”

In 2023, Operation HOPE supported more than 220,000 unique Black-owned businesses through its HOPE Inside network and 1 Million Black Businesses (1MBB) initiative partners, increasing the total to 388,703 businesses served since 1MBB was launched in 2020. This accounts for approximately 12.5% of all Black-owned businesses in the U.S.

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. 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 $4.2 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: OperationHOPE.org. Follow the HOPE conversation on X.

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