Atlanta, GA – April 25, 2011 – At a press conference hosted at Ebenezer Baptist Church today, Operation HOPE Founder, Chairman and CEO John Hope Bryant announced the addition of Dr. Bernice A. King to the HOPE Southeastern Board of Directors. The announcement comes as HOPE opens a HOPE Express office and continues to make progress on the building of the HOPE Financial Literacy Empowerment Center, Ebenezer housed at the Martin Luther King, Sr. Community Resource Facility in Atlanta.
“The cradle of the Civil Rights Movement is here at Ebenezer in Atlanta," saidBryant business bestselling author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World. "Having Bernice A. King on board to help further the work of her mother, father and her grandfather is a great honor. Being able to provide low-wealth individuals with a hand-up and not a hand out, continues the dream of providing all Americans with equal access to the American Dream.”
Dr. King is a graduate of Spelman College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Masters of Divinity and Doctorate of Law Degrees from Emory University. She has also received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from Wesley College and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia. King is the youngest daughter of the late Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and on January 30, 2007, the 1st year anniversary of her mother’s death, she returned to her alma-mater at Spelman College to announce the establishment of the “Be A King Scholarship in honor of Coretta Scott King.
HOPE along with the Be A King Enterprises will be joining forces on-the-ground to bring the message of empowerment and dignity to Atlanta schools.
As a member of the HOPE SE Board of Directors, King joins SE Board Chair Jeff Fendler and several of the nation’s most powerful executives, decision-makers, bankers and economists in providing insight and guidance to the nonprofit's direction.
About Operation HOPE
Founded in 1992, social empowerment nonprofit Operation HOPE's mission is to expand economic opportunity in under-resourced communities through financial literacy education. HOPE promotes "silver rights" – making free enterprise and capitalism relevant and effective for the underserved. Raising more than $500 million and directing and restructuring nearly $500 million more in mortgages and economic support from the private sector, for a total of approximately $1 billion dollars in economic activity, HOPE seeks dignity and empowerment for all. Follow Operation HOPE atwww.operationhope.org, www.twitter.com/operationhope, and www.facebook.com/operationhope.