I was thrilled to travel to Washington, DC yesterday to sign an important national Memorandum of Agreement between Operation HOPE and the 150,000+ strong Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity to advance the mandate of and for 1MBB, or our 1 Million new Black Business Initiative.
Kappa Alpha Psi has committed to helping to create and stand up 1,500 new black businesses between now and 2030, as part of our a larger 3rd Reconstruction vision, and specifically 1MBB.
Kappa Alpha Psi, founded in 1911, is one of the Devine 9 group of best in class black fraternities and sororities across America. They have more than 700 Chapters in all 50 states, and Operation HOPE, with 200 offices in 46 states, and the fraternity will initiate our work together by focusing in 12 shared local focus areas across the country.
Partnerships like this one underscore my belief that we are indeed sitting in a moment in history, right now. But history may not feel historic, as you are siting in it.
And further, that real progress in this new 3rd Reconstruction period (2020-2030) is also about advancing economic ‘opportunity’ in the business suites, and not just organizations protesting real injustice in the public streets. The issue today is not just what we are firmly against, but what we are absolutely and completely for. A what we are for agenda, for Black America.
It’s an agenda that moves us from simply an agenda of civil rights in the 20th century, to include a new and expanding agenda of silver rights of the 21st century as well.
A special thank you to Grand Polemarch Reuben A. Shelton III, Esq and the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity for both joining me this week in Washington, DC for the agreement signing, and for committing to make this agreement between us real.
This new partnership builds upon both our earlier 1MBB commitment from Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, where I am an honorary member, and the larger umbrella 1MBB national leadership commitment from SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Let’s go…
John Hope Bryant, founder, Operation HOPE