Annual convening honors the legacy of The Freedman’s Bank and seeks to generate new approaches to increase economic participation for all Americans

ATLANTA, July 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — On Friday, July 12, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Operation HOPE, and Shaw University will co-host the annual “Freedman’s Bank Forum,” featuring U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, Governor Roy Cooper, Operation HOPE CEO John Hope Bryant, Biden-Harris Administration officials, and key leaders from the public, private, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors. The Forum will highlight the legacy of the bank created by President Lincoln to teach the formerly enslaved about the free enterprise system and spotlight local success stories in and around Raleigh, N.C., home to one of 19 original Freedman’s Bank branches. 

The Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company was established in 1865 to provide newly emancipated Black Americans with the financial tools to safeguard their earnings, build financial security, and generate family wealth. The Freedman’s Bank Forum was launched in 2015 following then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew’s christening of the Treasury Annex as the “Freedman’s Bank Building,” inspired by a request from Operation HOPE Founder and CEO John Hope Bryant. It serves as an annual convening for diverse groups to ideate new approaches to address economic inequity and build new connections for executing these ideas. 

Annual convening honors the legacy of The Freedman’s Bank. New approaches seek to increase economic participation for all Americans.

Mr. Bryant will provide opening remarks on the history of the Freedman’s Bank, and then moderate a fireside conversation with U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. Prior to the Forum, Deputy Secretary Adeyemo and Mr. Bryant will meet with local Operation HOPE financial coaches and their clients, to hear firsthand how Operation HOPE’s “HOPE Inside” model helps individuals overcome their financial challenges to become successful small business owners and creditworthy banking consumers.

A detailed schedule is available below:

1:00 PM – Opening remarks: 

• Speakers include: Pre-recorded remarks by Secretary Janet L. Yellen; Governor Roy Cooper; Dr. Paulette Dillard, President of Shaw University; Congresswoman Valerie Foushee; and John Hope Bryant, Chairman of Operation HOPE; Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, City of Raleigh 
• Location: Estey Hall, Shaw University 

1:30 PM – Fireside chat with Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo: 

• In-depth conversation about the Administration’s efforts to deliver capital to underserved communities, Treasury’s investments in Black financial institutions, and the legacy of Freedman’s Bank. 
• Moderated by John Hope Bryant, Chairman of Operation HOPE, featuring Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo  
• Location: Estey Hall, Shaw University 

2:00 – 2:10 PM – Opening remarks and introduction to the panel:  

• Speakers include: Carolina Ferrerosa Young, Ph.D., Chief Economic Advisor, White House Office of the Vice President; Congresswoman Valerie Foushee, North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District  
• Location: Estey Hall, Shaw University 

2:10 PM – Panel discussion:  

• This panel will delve into how local and regional organizations in Raleigh are using funds from national initiatives to increase capital and tech assistance among Black entrepreneurs. 
• Moderated by Armer Kenchen, NC Rural Center, featuring Travis Rouse, M&F Bank; Crystal German, Self-Help Credit Union; Roberta McCullough, Institute Capital • National Institute of Minority Economic Development 
• Location: Estey Hall, Shaw University 

2:55 PM – Closing remarks:  

• Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin, Assistant to the President, Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement will deliver closing remarks. 

3:00 PM – Open house:  

A livestream will be available here.

About Operation HOPE, Inc.

Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to “silver rights” with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved—disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through its community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4 million individuals and directed more than $4.2 billion in economic activity into disenfranchised communities—turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. For more information: OperationHOPE.org. Follow the HOPE conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.

Operation HOPE Contacts:

Kevin Boucher, Operation HOPE
Kevin.boucher@operationhope.org

Lalohni Campbell, Per/Se Media Group
la@persemediagroup.com
404-593-7145

SOURCE Operation HOPE, Inc.