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Rebuilding America, rebuilding the middle class

A conversation with John Hope Bryant, founder, chairman, and CEO, Operation HOPE
By Ramona Schindelheim
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Millions of Americans are in pain—physical, emotional, and financial. The COVID-19 pandemic has killed tens of thousands and businesses of all sizes have been shut down to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus, putting at least 30 million people out of work.

For those people who have lost their jobs or are hanging on paycheck-to-paycheck, a helping hand—not a handout—is the lifeline they need to stand up on what is still shaky ground.

Since 1992, the nonprofit Operation HOPE has been providing that help by equipping young people and adults with the tools and education to secure a better future while coaching them through life’s financial challenges.

Today, that mission includes HOPE Inside Disaster, a free program that helps men and women directly or indirectly impacted by disasters such as COVID-19 navigate all the financial assistance that is available to them in this crisis. The initiative is available to all, and also works in partnership with the American Red Cross and FEMA, which refer people in need of guidance.

In this episode of Work in Progress, John Hope Bryant, Operation Hope’s founder, chairman, and CEO, explains that in just three months, the initiative has helped 77,000 people.

“Today the average person’s calling us for five things. ‘My child needs to restructure their student loan. I need help modifying my mortgage. My husband needs help applying for the CARE Act. My cousin or sister needs help with the credit card company,'” according to Bryant.

“We’re going to help you. If you need to create a new budget for your household, we definitely will help you. We’re going to be your private banker. We’re going to be your backroom business management office. We’re going to be the Starbucks of financial inclusion and your family coach at no cost to you.”

“We have to build this country back together. Look at this as not just a problem, but an opportunity—culturally, spiritually, mentally, and physically and financially.”

Rebuilding America

Bryant tells me he has been working with the Trump Administration on what he calls “the new Marshall Plan”. “It is a multi-pronged strategy to create a bulletproof economy for the 21st century, which is internships, apprenticeships, education for all K through college.”

Bryant likens it to the G.I. Bill which gave returning World War II veterans assistance for education to upgrade their skills for the new economy. “That created the American middle class. This is going to be no different. There’s goi g to be a rebuilding of America. The government told you to shut down, so the government has a responsibility to make sure you have a bridge over these troubled waters.“

If you need assistance from HOPE Inside Disaster, the toll free number is 888-388-HOPE, or visit them online at hopeinsidecovid19.org/recovery.

You can listen to the entire Work in Progress podcast with Bryant here or you can find it—and download it—wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for listening! And thanks for subscribing.

Episode 131: John Hope Bryant, Operation HOPE founder, chairman, and CEO
Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and Ramona Schindelheim
Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.

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