John Hope Bryant (born February 6, 1966) is an American financial literacy and poverty eradication activist, and "silver rights" entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Operation HOPE, America’s first non-profit social investment banking organization, a leading self-help provider of economic empowerment tools and services for the underserved. His work to empower low-wealth communities has earned him a role as the Vice Chair of the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy and the Chairman of the Council’s Under-Served Committee.
Bryant was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised primarily in Compton, and in the South Central area of Los Angeles, by parents Juanita Smith and Johnnie Will Smith. Though neither of his parents finished high school, Bryant credits them with being two of the smartest people that he ever met.
Bryant graduated from Santa Monica High School in 1984. Later in life, on May 8, 2004 he received an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Human Letters from Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas, for his work around education and poverty eradication.
Career
On May 5, 1992, Bryant founded Operation HOPE, Inc. immediately following the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, California. Operation HOPE, Inc. (HOPE) is a non-profit, public benefit, investment banking organization.
The organization is composed, in part, of a national network of inner-city banking centers called HOPE Centers , serving low-wealth communities by offering hope and converting check cashing customers to banking customers. These centers also provide financial literacy education. In 2004 Bryant and Operation HOPE partnered with former President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation to expand access to the Earned Income Tax Credit to victims of Hurricane Katrina, and to all low wealth Americans.
In 2004 he accepted a nomination from the World Economic Forum to serve as one of the 237 Young Global Leaders who work to model a better world by 2030.
Bryant became the first African-American in history to be knighted by German nobility and the royal House of Lippe in 1998.
On January 22, 2008, Bryant was appointed vice-chairman of the President’s Council on Financial Literacy by U.S. President George W. Bush.
On December 5, 1994, Bryant was selected by TIME Magazine as “One of America’s 50 Most Promising Leaders of the Future,” as part of their 50 for the Future cover story.
On March 6, 2005, Bryant received the Crystal Heart Award from the USC School of Social Work for his work in community service.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton described Mr. Bryant in his recent bestselling book GIVING saying, “John Bryant is a 41 year-old whirlwind of ideas and action. Lean, intense, focused, and completely positive in his belief in the potential of poor people to prosper, with ‘a hand up and not a hand out.’”
On June 13, 2004, Bryant became a Presidential appointee when U.S. President George W. Bush appointed him to a 4-year term on the non-partisan U.S. Community Development Advisory Board for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, or (CDFI Fund), at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In September 2008, Bryant was selected to be a member of the Global Agenda Council for the World Economic Forum , Geneva, Switzerland.
Bryant is the namesake of the "John Bryant Scholarship in Urban Social Development", a permanent scholarship fund at the USC School of Social Work.
Love Leadership:The New Way To Lead In A Fear-Based World Bryant, John Hope Jossey-Bass, 2009, ISBN 0-470-42878-3, ISBN 978-0-470-42878-8
Actions Speak Loudest: Keeping Our Promise For A Better World McKinnon, Robert, Williams, Juan The Lyon Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-59921-486-3, ISBN 1-59921-486-5
Banking on our Future: a Program for Teaching You and your Kids about Money by Bryant, Beacon Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-8070-4717-0
Silver Rights Movement Book Series
Dignity in the Middle East
Fixing the Jericho Road: The Silver Rights Movement and the Good Samaritan
Silver Rights Movement in Africa
The Wealthless Power
The Ownership Society
Racism and the Silver Rights Movement
Banking on Our Future: The Promise for America’s Unbanked
