I have been saying for some time now that ‘after every national disaster, is a financial disaster.’
Last week in Washington, D.C., standing with my friend and partner (FEMA Administrator) Craig Fugate at our HOPE Inside Washington, DC @SunTrust 17th Street, FEMA underscored this statement as fact.
FEMA Administrator Fugate and other FEMA leadership present for the signing made it clear that the leading reason why people don’t recover from national disaster is money, and the largest group that do not recover well are the poor. In effect, they were in a crisis before the crisis hit.
The signing of this renewal agreement with DHS/FEMA re-establishes Operation HOPE and our HOPE Coalition America division as the nation’s leading ‘financial and economic disaster planning, response and group agency’ in times of national, Presidentially declared disaster. We also have a national agreement in this regard with the American Red Cross, who was also present at the signing.
Operation HOPE is increasingly opening HOPE Inside locations across the nation, and in times of national disaster now our HOPE Inside locations will transform themselves into Financial Disaster Recovery Centers.
Read the full DHS/FEMA issued press release here on the national agreement, issued last Friday.
John Hope Bryant