Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Ryan Mack
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000181A
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00:01 Did you know that there's a private bank
00:02 for the working poor? 00:04 Well stay tuned to meet a man 00:05 who will inspire hope for your economic future. 00:08 My name is Yvonne Lewis 00:09 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:35 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:37 My guest today is Ryan Mack, 00:39 Market President of the Mid-Atlantic Region 00:41 for Operation HOPE. 00:43 Ryan is a frequent contributor to CNN and CNBC. 00:46 He has been featured in African American Family, 00:50 The Source and NV Magazine, 00:52 contributes regularly to Huffingtonpost. com 00:55 The Network Journal, Fortune and Black Enterprise, 00:59 received the Top 40 Under 40 Achievement Award 01:02 from the Network Journal and received Tom Joyner's 01:06 "Hardest Working Financial Advisor Award" 01:08 because of his efforts to empower the Community 01:11 with the crucial life skills of financial literacy. 01:14 Welcome to Urban Report Ryan. 01:17 Thank you so much Yvonne 01:18 for the work that you all are doing each and every day 01:21 I'm so pleased to be here with you. 01:23 Well, thank you, we are blessed to have you 01:26 and we are so appreciative of the work that you're doing 01:29 because financial literacy is so... so important. 01:33 So many people just don't know 01:35 how to do basic things, would you agree with that? 01:39 Absolutely, I mean, knowledge is power 01:42 it says very clearly in the Bible, 01:44 "Our love must not be a thing of words and fine talk 01:47 it must be a thing of action and sincerity. " 01:50 So, if we really love our community, 01:52 if we really want to do something, 01:54 we can't just talk about it, 01:55 we have to have some action behind it. 01:57 And when you're talking about faith, 01:59 faith is one of the most substantial things 02:01 and one of the most empowering things 02:03 any individual can do in the Community 02:04 faith being comprised of belief 02:07 that tomorrow... a better and brighter day is going to come 02:10 but then action... that's coupled with that belief 02:13 and then with those two things... you have faith 02:16 and financial literacy... 02:18 if you want to have substantial action 02:20 it teaches individuals of what can I do 02:22 as far as financial... finance is concerned, 02:24 what can I do to empower myself. 02:26 When I first started working with gang members, 02:28 the first young man that I worked with 02:30 he came to me 02:32 and he was the leader of the "Bloods" in Brooklyn. 02:34 He just came out of prison, he had 300 dollars to his name 02:37 and he didn't know a whole lot about money, 02:39 he said, "Ryan, what am I supposed to do?" 02:41 I've got 300 dollars, I'm basically homeless. 02:43 So, I taught him about going to Inc-It-Now and forming an LLC. 02:47 I taught him about budgeting, 02:50 I taught him on how to form a business, 02:52 I taught him on how to go to get a GED, 02:54 I taught him about how to get an Electrician's certificate 02:57 from different Organizations in the neighborhood, 03:00 so all these things exposed him to... the light of... 03:02 "Wow, you know what? Now I can form my own business" 03:05 and 12 months later, he had ten employees 03:07 and two project managers, most of them... other "Bloods" 03:10 and now... it really... was just as simple as that, 03:14 just flicking on that switch of hope. 03:16 Flicking on that switch and saying, 03:17 "You know what? I can start a business, 03:19 I can manage my money, 03:21 selling drugs is not the only way for me 03:23 because I now know better 03:25 so I now know how to do better 03:27 and lot of us spend our time judging others 03:30 and judging as to why individuals 03:31 just want to rob and steal, 03:33 you know why most people steal? 03:35 At least the ones that I've talked to? 03:36 If you ask them, why do they rob and steal? 03:39 They'll say, "You know what, Ryan, 03:40 I saw someone have a jacket on and I saw that jacket 03:44 and I saw that as a means to feed my child. " 03:47 "I saw that as a means to feed my family. " 03:50 Now, I'm not condoning theft and I would never do that 03:53 and that's absolutely the wrong thing 03:55 but if we're not teaching our Communities 03:58 and not embracing them, 03:59 doing the principles of what the Word... 04:01 of what you all teach every single day with your Network, 04:03 teaching them what the Word 04:05 teaches about the right way to go about doing things, 04:07 then individuals are going to choose the wrong way, 04:10 I mean, how can we begrudge anyone 04:12 if all they see is pimps and drug dealers and pushers 04:15 as role models in their Community, 04:17 if that's what they're going to do, 04:18 they're role modeling what their version of success is, 04:22 so, we were talking about financial literacy 04:24 and then we couple on top of that, 04:26 we have individuals... 04:27 we have the 360 billion dollar elephant in the room 04:31 which are financial predators that essentially capitalize 04:35 off of ignorance, that's... so... these are things... 04:38 financial literacy is the answer to a lot of our solutions... 04:42 economic solutions in our communities 04:44 that we must implement as soon as possible. 04:46 Absolutely, you know, and that's such a good point 04:50 that 360 billion... is that what you said? 04:53 Yes ma'am, yes... 04:55 What is that elephant in the room? Tell us about that. 04:57 What is the 360 billion dollar elephant? 05:00 I'm in Detroit right now 05:02 and as you walk down the street in Detroit, what do you see? 05:06 You see Check Cashing places, you see Payday Loans, 05:09 you see Cash Advances, you see Title Loans, 05:11 you see Refund Anticipation Loans, 05:13 you see Weed Refineries, 05:16 you see Pawn Shops, you see Rent-a-Centers, 05:18 you see Rent-a-Center stores, all of these are businesses 05:22 that are designed for short-term gain, maximizing... 05:26 or trying to capitalize, rather, off of the ignorance, 05:30 again, there's nothing wrong with being ignorant 05:32 but there is something wrong with staying ignorant. 05:35 So, if you are going to the Check Cashing place, 05:38 you don't know how to open up a bank account. 05:40 We... with Operation HOPE, we do a lot of work 05:43 with those individuals who are underserved, 05:45 and I'll tell you, in Detroit, I saw one Grocery Store 05:49 that is earning a half a million dollars a year more 05:53 since they inserted check cashing 05:56 into their revenue stream. 05:57 They put a Check Cashing Facility 05:59 inside of the grocery store 06:01 and now they're earning a half a million dollars a year more 06:03 off of fees being taken from those who again... 06:07 they need those fees to feed their children 06:10 to put clothes on their backs, to keep a roof over their head, 06:13 but they're giving these fees... excessive fees, 06:15 to the financial predators in the Community 06:17 who are... essentially betting on the fact 06:20 that they're not going to learn how to open bank accounts 06:22 they're not going to learn... 06:24 there are a lot of people in our neighborhoods 06:25 are living check to Tuesday 06:27 and they can't make it to the next pay day 06:29 so they go to the Payday Loan, 06:31 we had someone come into our offices the other day... 06:33 she came in with a 300 dollar loan 06:35 or she took out a 300 dollar loan 06:37 six weeks later after two extensions... 06:40 two two-week extensions she owed 1,245 dollars 06:45 Yvonne: No, from the 300 dollar loan? 06:48 Absolutely, this is what's happening in our communities. 06:51 They're betting on the fact... these financial predators... 06:54 it's an industry based upon... that we want to bet 06:57 that these individuals 06:59 will never learn how to improve their credit, 07:01 open up bank accounts, start their own businesses, 07:04 accumulate wealth, 07:05 there's a new term that I've tried to conjure up, 07:07 pushing as hard as possible, 07:09 everybody's heard of gentrification, 07:10 what Operation HOPE is trying to promote 07:13 is internal gentrification, 07:15 and gentrification is essentially the perspective of: 07:18 you have people that move in from outside of the Community 07:22 who have higher wealth there, higher income 07:25 and they start buying up properties 07:26 that people inside of the communities... 07:27 because of high poverty rates... couldn't normally afford. 07:30 But if we promote internal gentrification, 07:33 what that means is that, if we educate our people, 07:36 teach them about how to start businesses, 07:38 teach them how to improve their credit scores 07:40 from 500 to over 700 credit scores, 07:42 you know, 700-credit score communities don't riot, 07:45 name me one 700-credit score community... 07:47 and I've marched... I've marched in Ferguson... 07:50 I marched in Ferguson for Mike Brown, 07:52 I marched in New York for Eric Gardener, 07:55 I marched in Cleveland for Tamir Rice, 07:58 Baltimore for Freddie Gray, 07:59 I've been marching and my feet hurt, 08:02 we have to figure out a way to do something beyond marching 08:06 to give ourselves a tangible Community 08:08 and those communities that are rioting, 08:10 those are 500-credit score communities 08:12 that are indicative of high poverty rates 08:14 that are essentially... 08:16 that don't know of any other alternative 08:18 and a large part of that is economic, 08:21 if we can solve that economic piece of the puzzle, 08:24 then we'll be able to start to see 08:26 those check cashing places 08:27 turn into Credit Unions and Banks. 08:29 We'll see those liquor stores turning into convenient stores, 08:32 we'll see those weed... they're trying to raise the 08:35 the economy of the trend right now 08:37 with the revenue from weed refineries and liquor. 08:40 So, essentially what they're saying is, 08:42 we want to make money off of you, 08:43 as long as you stay high and drunk all day, 08:45 we'll be able to keep our bottom line solid, 08:48 that's not a way to build the economy, 08:50 that's only the way to capitalize off of a few 08:53 who want to pimp those individuals 08:55 who are poor in our communities 08:56 and they take that money back to their communities, 08:59 while the people in the community, 09:01 essentially stay poor and impoverished 09:03 and that's not a winning business model 09:05 we need a win-win... we're talking about 09:06 inclusive economics and increasing disparity of income, 09:10 there are few at the top who are not necessarily, 09:14 who are essentially... 09:16 we need to broaden the base of our economic base 09:19 so more people have an opportunity 09:20 to sit at the table of economic opportunity 09:23 that's what Operation HOPE is really all about 09:25 and that's what we're promoting. 09:27 Wow, you gave me so much to chew on right there, 09:31 I mean... it's... you know... are people... the Bible says 09:35 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" 09:38 and if we don't... what you don't know... 09:41 if we don't know to do something 09:43 then you're going to do it the wrong way. 09:45 You're going to covet that jacket 09:47 and you're going to think that stealing 09:50 is the only way to make money for your family 09:54 but what you're telling us... is that there is a better way, 09:58 God has a better way, there is a better way, 10:00 you don't have to steal to feed your family, 10:02 if you know what to do over here, 10:05 if you know that... if you can get that GED 10:08 or if you know that you can open a bank account... 10:10 because you don't even know that you can do that 10:13 you think that that's too hard for you 10:15 that's not for you, 10:16 "let me just take my check over here 10:18 and cash it over here and get the money 10:21 from the check cashing place and pay them. " 10:23 I know someone too who got a loan from 10:27 one of those loan sharks, got... 10:29 it was about 300 or 500 dollars 10:32 and ended up in like 1,500 dollars 10:34 for a 300 dollar loan, 10:36 it's like... "What are you thinking? 10:38 What are you thinking?" 10:41 Well, I mean, the Bible also says, 10:44 "Of what use is money... in the hand of a fool 10:46 if they have no desire to obtain wisdom?" 10:49 And a lot of individuals 10:52 and the 70-billion-dollar elephant in the room, 10:55 is the Lottery Industry... that essentially is saying that, 10:59 "Hey, you know what? 11:01 We have a lot of folks today... there's a part... 11:04 there's a negative correlation between education 11:06 and the rates in which people play the lottery. 11:07 Those individuals who are earning 11:10 less than 25,000 dollars a year will on average spend about 11:13 600 dollars a year on lottery tickets. 11:16 Those individuals who are earning over 11:18 a 100,000 dollars a year... 11:19 usually have a little more education 11:21 will spend about 300 dollars a year on lottery tickets. 11:25 Those individuals who are earning 13,000 dollars a year 11:28 will spend upwards... on average... 11:29 about 10 percent of their income on lottery tickets. 11:32 We have a lot of these individuals around here 11:34 who... there's one... in Chicago, 11:36 there's one small zip code in Chicago 11:38 that's spending almost 27 million dollars a year 11:41 on the South side of Chicago, on lottery tickets. 11:44 Yvonne: 27,000 million? 11:45 27 million and then... this is just... again... 11:50 the Bible says it clearly 11:52 "Of what use is money in the hand of a fool 11:54 if they have no desire to obtain wisdom?" 11:56 We're chasing the wrong thing, we're chasing money... 11:59 we need to be chasing faith, we need to be chasing values 12:02 and I tell people all the time, 12:04 I say, "Listen, money is not the blessing, 12:07 money is the symptom of the blessing," 12:10 money is... essentially it's like... 12:13 if you see the leaves of the branches of the trees move... 12:17 people say, "Well, that's the wind" 12:19 I say, "No, that's not the wind... 12:20 you can't see the wind, 12:22 you just see the result of the wind blowing. " 12:25 When you are truly blessed 12:27 you have those blessings inside, 12:29 you... the blessings start to move and all of a sudden, 12:32 you start to move just like those branches of the tree, 12:35 and you start to produce like the tree, 12:37 we've been so accustomed to eating from the tree, 12:40 we don't even know that we can be like the tree itself. 12:43 So, as we start to learn how to be producers 12:47 as opposed to only consumers, 12:48 we know that in order to do that rely on these blessings 12:52 that are inside of here that God gave you from day one 12:55 from before you were even conceived... you have them, 12:58 so if we learn about those things 13:00 then we can learn to say, "You know what? 13:03 Hey, I can do like they did in Lima, Peru, 13:05 that engineer that said that they have essentially 13:08 there was a drought, and that engineer in Lima, Peru, 13:11 took a billboard and he did some whole... technological stuff 13:15 and I'm not an expert on what he actually did... 13:18 but he humidified the air 13:21 and makes 90 liters of water per day from thin air... 13:25 so when people... now... before they didn't have water 13:29 but because someone believed what he had inside, 13:32 he had that knowledge... he creates water out of thin air. 13:34 There's someone in India... 13:36 they were poor, they were in poverty, 13:38 someone looked at it, he said, 13:40 "You know what... I can do something with this clay," 13:42 he took the clay... he molded it into refrigerators 13:45 and started to sell them and he fed his family literally 13:48 making usable refrigerators 13:50 that kept food fresh for four days on end 13:52 inside of dirt... he made something out of nothing... 13:56 how does that happen? 13:57 Because people believe that they have something 14:00 inside of them and don't let their current 14:03 circumstances dictate on how far they can go 14:05 and they learn this thing called "contentment... " 14:07 "I'm not happy with my state, I'm happy in my state. " 14:11 But financial literacy says that yes you have the skills 14:14 and ability to do all you think, 14:16 we're going to remove money as an obstacle from your success, 14:19 we're going to make it an asset to your success 14:21 so you can build and create anything you want. 14:24 Most of the majority of SP 500 14:26 were formed in times just like today. 14:29 CNN, LexisNexis, Trader Joe's, 14:33 GM... all these... Sports Illustrated... 14:36 all these are companies that were formed 14:39 in times of economic crisis, 14:43 the first Apple store opened in 2001, 14:45 it was deemed to be a failure, 14:47 by 2008 it was deemed to be recessive-proof, 14:50 they opened it in time of a recession 14:53 where everyone said, "You shouldn't do it. " 14:55 Financial Literacy again... it allows individuals to remove 14:59 money as an inhibitor of their success 15:02 and helps them create better FICO Scores 15:05 helps them learn how to budget, 15:06 helps them learn how to put some money aside 15:08 so that they can start their business, 15:10 helps them learn how to put some money aside 15:11 so they can start a house 15:13 so we can leave a legacy to our families 15:15 and not leave it to the reverse mortgages 15:17 in trying to pimp our elderly in our communities, 15:19 this is what financial Literacy is doing everyday 15:21 and this is why Operation HOPE 15:23 is the people that I chose to be a part of... about a year ago 15:25 to actually start a national movement. 15:27 And give us a little history on Operation HOPE. 15:31 Operation HOPE was formed in 1992, 15:34 Chairman John Bryant had a strong vision, 15:36 he's been my mentor for about six or seven years 15:39 even before I joined HOPE 15:41 and he saw Compton burning from the LA Riots 15:44 and said, "I want to do something about it" 15:46 he has his own investment management company 15:48 and he went back to his hometown of Compton 15:50 and he did a banking tour, 15:52 he took some banks and toured through Compton 15:54 and he saw that there were people in the neighborhoods 15:56 and he saw them... 15:58 there are many people in our neighborhoods 16:00 and I quote, unquote, "Eew" 16:01 that most people... stigmatized and they saw negative pictures 16:06 and they saw these negative images on television 16:08 so, he took them to the "hood" 16:11 and showed them that there are many middle-class individuals 16:14 viable... economically viable families 16:16 that we could invest in and that we could throw our arms around 16:19 and they can produce and be viable tax-paying citizens 16:23 and can add value to the overall community, 16:27 from 1992... long story short... till today... 16:30 Operation HOPE has helped to direct almost 2 billion... 16:33 with the "b... " billion dollars of private capital 16:36 into underserved communities. 16:38 They've helped over 2.6 million clients, 16:41 and that number is growing every single day... 16:44 they have over 22,000 volunteers, 16:47 they have a footprint of some sort whether it be youth 16:50 or volunteers or adults in over 300 cities 16:53 and we just have contractors being sited in places like 16:57 Abu Dhabi, Morocco, UAE... 17:00 then all throughout the United States 17:02 and it is the first private bank for the working poor, 17:05 for the first time... someone can now... 17:08 as they look at a check cashing place... 17:10 because our mission is to shut down 17:12 check cashing places... one at a time, 17:15 we are no longer accepting the fact 17:17 that you are going to pimp on the ignorance of our communities 17:19 without fighting, 17:20 and we don't fight them by picketing, 17:22 if we don't fight them by rabble rousing, 17:24 we fight them by putting up a HOPE inside business model 17:28 across the street, right across the street 17:31 from that check cashing place 17:33 so if they're going to come to our people with ignorance, 17:35 we're going to come to our people with education 17:37 with knowledge and tangible things 17:40 where our people can improve their credit for free, 17:42 my motto is... "Free 99" 17:44 or don't pay a dime, just spend your time 17:48 and so, when people come to our offices, 17:50 they can do as much as they like, 17:52 they can sit down once a week, twice a week if they have time, 17:55 and helped as long as you need, 17:57 they're going to walk out of our office 17:58 with a 30-day Plan and we say, "Come back... " 18:01 and that Counselor is going to call them, 18:03 they're going to bug them, they're going to hound them, 18:05 just like a financial coach would 18:07 to say, "We want to make sure that you come back in 18:10 and keep on... and they never spend a dime, 18:13 we had a story... one young lady in D.C. 18:15 she came in... and well she was declined 18:19 six times for a business loan, 18:21 she just had a dream to start her business, 18:22 six clocked times... she was declined 18:24 she came to Operation Hope, 18:26 she went through a free 12-week course, 18:29 she went through a free 4-week credit-score communities, 18:32 she went through multiple free 18:34 one-on-one counseling sessions to get her credit score 18:37 to go from... within the 500s to the 700s, 18:39 she went through multiple free sessions 18:42 to get her business plan tight, 18:44 we coupled her with an enrolled agent 18:46 that volunteered for free to help her, 18:47 with a Seed paid volunteer for free to help her, 18:50 a year later, she walked out with a 333,000 dollar loan 18:54 from an Industrial Bank and she's breaking ground 18:57 on a brand-new spot. 18:58 These are the types of things that you can do 19:01 if you're creating hope for people, 19:03 opportunity for people that wasn't there before 19:05 and the banks now are understanding, like... 19:08 "Wait a minute... you mean to tell me that I can instead... 19:12 as opposed to trying to look all over the place for new clients, 19:15 I can look right in the neighborhood 19:17 that I previously thought was "the hood" 19:20 for clients... and these are the same folks 19:22 that were going to the check-cashing place... 19:24 they now can come to us, well, sure, 19:26 we're going to invest in them," 19:27 of the largest 50 banks in the Country, 19:30 38 are a part of the Operation Hope. 19:32 They sit on their Board, they fund them 19:34 or they volunteer for them. 19:35 Wow, so, let me ask you this, where does the money come from 19:39 to fund Operation HOPE? 19:41 From Banks... again... 19:42 of the largest 50 banks in the Country, 19:45 38 are our partners, they fund us, 19:47 they sit on our Board, they volunteer for us, 19:51 we get private funding, 19:52 we've got private monies from the ED... 19:54 we have tons of national relationships as well, 19:57 John Bryant sits on the Advisory Council 19:59 for President Obama 20:01 and he also served with President Bush, 20:03 and he also served with President Clinton, 20:05 and he also served with President Bush one, 20:07 so, he's got connections from the top down 20:09 so he's not partisan and no one in HOPE cares about 20:13 the Democrat or Republican, it's not about that, 20:17 it's not Democrat or Republican, it's not about black or white, 20:20 it's about dreams... and it's about what can we do 20:24 in a non-partisan way to help all our people 20:27 whether those are poor urban people, 20:29 whether those are poor, rural individuals in the Appalachians, 20:33 so, it doesn't matter where they come from, 20:35 if they got low credit scores and they need some hope, 20:38 they need to come to Operation HOPE, 20:40 we are giving them free assistance every single day. 20:43 Wow! what's your website? 20:44 We're going to put your website up 20:47 so that people know how to contact you 20:49 because this is... this is a critical, critical 20:54 piece of information that you're giving us 20:56 and a critical organization because if you don't know 21:01 that this exists, 21:02 you're going to keep going to those check cashing places, 21:05 you're going to keep getting turned down 21:07 by the different banks but you're saying 21:09 that if they come to you, they can learn step by step 21:14 how to get their credit score up, 21:16 how to get a loan if they need it to open a business, 21:20 I mean, this is... this is really huge... 21:22 this is really huge. Website: OperationHope.com 21:24 Operation Hope was the first Nonprofit 21:26 that was approved by regulators to be able to operate 21:31 inside of Bank Branches so, we're inside Bank Branches 21:35 so you go to a Bank Branch, you apply for a loan 21:39 and they decline you, 21:41 if we have HOPE inside of that Bank Branch, 21:43 that Banker says, "Wait, hold on, don't leave, 21:46 don't leave, go talk to that HOPE Counselor over there, 21:50 there is another route that you can go, 21:52 go talk to that HOPE Counselor over there, 21:54 and then, work with them for a while 21:56 and then come back... 21:57 you're not going to have to spend... 21:59 don't spend a dime, just spend your time 22:01 and come on back and we've had many folks that do that, 22:04 the bankers will send them to us, 22:06 we send them right back and they can get the loan 22:09 and again, our unofficial motto is: "No Loan Denied," 22:12 we don't give loans but we help individuals 22:15 put themselves in a position to be able to make sure 22:18 they can say, "I'm not denied to get that loan" 22:20 and so, again, no money exchanges hands for our people 22:23 because again... and you'll be amazed too 22:26 that... we'll stand in line for... 22:29 for Nikes... and to spend 200 to 300 dollars 22:33 but we won't spend 130 dollars for Nike stock, 22:38 well, we... it's amazing on how many times 22:43 that people essentially don't even believe 22:45 that we're offering these services for free. 22:47 Yvonne: It's like, "what's the catch, right?" 22:50 Ryan: Yes, it's all... Yvonne: What's the catch? 22:52 You can't believe, we've talked to Unions 22:55 and many times it's very hard... it's very challenging... 22:57 and it developed... you know what 22:59 because our people have gone through a lot, 23:01 they've gone through a lot, 23:02 they've been taken by a lot of people, 23:04 and you know, whether they're watching 23:06 Montel Williams trying to get the Payday loan on television 23:10 or Russell Simmons trying to pimp with the "Rush Card" 23:14 to say, "Come, spend your money to use your own money," 23:17 every time they turn around, 23:19 there is somebody out there trying to reach in their pocket 23:22 so I can definitely understand. 23:24 All I tell individuals is, 23:26 "Just try it... keep your wallet at home 23:29 just bring your IDs in case you're getting... 23:30 just make sure that people can identify who you are, 23:33 bring your ID, just come into the office, 23:35 keep your wallet, keep your credit cards at home 23:38 and just try it and come back as much as you want. 23:40 We want you to form a business 23:42 because that's where the small... 23:43 that's where the growth from our community is going to come from. 23:45 Internal gentrification is going to start occurring 23:49 when we as a people... understand 23:51 and we don't have to wait for the ship to come in any longer, 23:54 we can learn how to swim out to it, 23:56 or even learn how to make our own ship 23:58 and sail for ourselves... 24:00 Yes, we don't have to wait, we can learn now 24:05 how to get it... how do we get it... 24:08 you are offering information as to how to get it 24:11 instead of trying to... 24:13 instead of waiting for it to be given, 24:15 we can go and get it and another thing 24:18 that's interesting to me too, Ryan, is that... 24:21 I'm hearing... like... I always think about the inmates 24:23 and when they come out, the ex-felons... 24:26 they're denied work, 24:28 they want to work but they're denied work 24:31 but if they could somehow get together, 24:33 pool their resources, learn a trade, 24:35 start a business, then they're not dependent 24:39 upon companies to hire them. 24:41 Ryan: Exactly. 24:43 So what you're saying is 24:44 one of the things that your Organization 24:46 can offer... is to ex-offenders... 24:49 helping them to know how to move forward. 24:51 I'm glad you said that because we are spearheading 24:55 one of the largest movement of tangible services 24:58 for those who are incarcerated. 24:59 I'm in the prison every week 25:01 and I can't wait to go back to prison... to just ask... 25:04 because we are helping those across the Country in prison 25:06 to learn how to swim out to their own ship, 25:10 you know, I tell those individuals all the time, 25:13 it is the victim that complains about the win, 25:16 it is the victor who makes money off of making sail boats 25:20 and this is the difference in my consent 25:22 that we have... when we can take something... 25:26 and we can take nothing and turn it into something. 25:28 Just last week, we went... we did a book... 25:31 we do things like book drives, 25:32 we have a lot of volunteers and they bring books 25:34 for those who are in the world of prison 25:36 to just learn about obtaining knowledge 25:38 we teach them financial literacy, 25:40 we want them to leave with not just 100 dollars and a bus pass, 25:43 we want them to leave with a business plan and you know what, 25:46 the beautiful part about leaving with a business plan, 25:49 because we're offering now 25:50 our 12-week free entrepreneurial training program in prison 25:53 the beautiful part about it is that 25:56 you don't have to be an entrepreneur, 25:58 you might not ever be an entrepreneur, 26:00 some people decide not to pursue that route, 26:03 that might not be for you, but the skills are for everybody 26:06 just because you don't want to start your own business, 26:09 you need to learn at least a skill set 26:12 of being self-sufficient, of being responsible, 26:15 of learning how to wake up on time, 26:17 you know, early to bed... 26:18 wake up early... you get an oyster, 26:21 wake up late... you just get the shell, 26:23 we got to make ourselves move 26:25 and this is what Operation HOPE 26:27 is teaching those who are in prison, 26:29 we're starting a National Initiative, 26:31 we have a National MOU with the veterans, with the VA, 26:33 to make sure... all this lip service being provided, 26:36 one out of seven folks are homeless... our VA, 26:39 our Vets in this Country, 26:40 a lot of folks are just providing lip service, 26:42 we're going to the VA, we're going to the hospitals, 26:45 we're inside the hospital in Detroit, 26:47 we're up in the Bronx, Cleveland, 26:50 soon to be Tampa, soon to be Orlando, 26:51 we're going across the Country... 26:53 in VA hospitals all across the Country 26:55 we're providing our Vets with tangible resources 26:57 helping them learn how to buy homes, 26:59 start businesses, improve their credit 27:01 and get back into a sustainable life 27:03 to become economically viable in our Communities 27:06 because they need our help as well, 27:07 youth aging our of Foster Care is another soft spot 27:10 and we'll be getting them as well, 27:12 so we're doing a whole lot to really just make sure 27:14 that we are providing tangible services to our people. 27:16 Yes, you... ah... you are super busy 27:19 and we appreciate all that you do, 27:22 I can't believe our time is up, you have been... 27:26 this has been so insightful and so informative 27:30 because our folks need to know 27:32 that they can swim to the ship... I love that, 27:35 swim to the ship and get it yourself, right? 27:38 Yes, absolutely, I mean, I'll leave you with this, 27:41 Ephesians 1:3... please people, read that verse, 27:43 Ephesians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father 27:46 of our Lord Jesus Christ, 27:47 who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings 27:49 in heavenly places in Christ... " 27:50 He has already done it, because of God 27:53 but it's God waiting on you, let's get it going. 27:56 Amen, thank you so much 27:57 and thank you for joining us 27:59 join us next time because you know what? 28:01 It just wouldn't be the same without you. |
Revised 2016-05-17