Operation HOPE Announces a New Marshall Plan for National Economic Recovery

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Operation HOPE announced that it has begun work to galvanize private sector, federal public sector as well as non-governmental organization backing for its founder’s vision for a New Marshall Plan, a comprehensive set of legislative and regulatory policies that address inequality in our economy and harness the untapped potential of millions of African Americans, who have been disproportionately affected by both the health and economic impacts COVID-19. This urgent need for transformative and coordinated policy changes are further compounded by the recent civil unrest in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others. The New Marshall Plan includes legislative action to implement Education for All, Financial Literacy for All, Access to Job Opportunity for All to ensure a Living Wage for All, and Access to Capital for All.

Operation HOPE Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Hope Bryant recently published his New Marshall Plan on the Milken Institute’s Power of Ideas platform. The plan seeks to establish a new path forward to economic recovery both for the United States as a whole following the most dramatic economic downturn in its history as well as for its African American community, which has historically been left out of previous economic resurgences in this country.

The New Marshall Plan seeks to add 1%-2% to annual GDP through a federally incentivized reinvestment plan that would be supported by the private sector. Operation HOPE has engaged its Fortune 500, national and regional financial institution, foundation, and community partners as well as members of Congress and the White House Administration to secure commitments to implement the New Marshall Plan policies as outlined.

“Rainbows only follow storms – and the storms that our country and especially our African American community are experiencing right now are severe. The New Marshall Plan is a path forward – one that is rooted in education, financial literacy and opportunity that will lead to more and better jobs, higher GDP, and a stronger, more resilient America,” said Mr. Bryant.

The plan has already received support from Operation HOPE’s growing corporate partners, including some of the largest manufacturers and service companies in America as well as similar regional companies and small businesses. Over the past 90 days, these private sector businesses have committed to prioritizing job training, mentorships, and apprenticeships to minority communities.

For more information about the New Marshall Plan, please contact Bill Fair, Managing Director – HOPE Inside Disaster COVID-19 Response, at [e-mail], or Elaine Hungenberg, Executive Vice President - HOPE Research Institute, at [e-mail].

Organizations interested in reaching into underserved communities and to discuss joining the effort to implement The New Marshall Plan can contact Mary Ehrsham, President of Operation HOPE Partnerships, at [e-mail].

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—disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through our 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 $3.2 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. Project 5117 is our multi-year four-pronged approach to combating economic inequality that aims to improve financial literacy, increase business role models and business internships for youth in underserved communities, and stabilize the American dream by boosting FICO scores. Operation HOPE recently received its fourth consecutive 4-star charity rating for fiscal management and commitment to transparency and accountability by the prestigious non-profit evaluator, Charity Navigator.

For more information: www.OperationHOPE.org. Follow Operation HOPE on Twitter and Facebook @operationhope