HOPE Global Forums Explores Jobs, Inequality and the "Invisible Class"

ATLANTA, April 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The HOPE Global Forums 2017 Annual Meeting returns to Atlanta this week, challenging participants to outline a vision for a new, global economy that works for everyone. The event will take place April 10-12 and is North America's largest gathering of leaders committed to the discussion of inclusive economics. Participants will be asked to generate "Five Big Ideas" around working group topics related to this year's theme, "Uplifting the Invisible Class," focusing on how to reimagine a global economy that empowers poor, underserved and middle-class communities.

The 2017 event will feature over 3,000 thought leaders and influencers from government, community and the private sector.  This year's speakers include Ajay Banga, President and CEO, Mastercard; The Honorable Vicente Fox, 55th President of Mexico; Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO, Thrive Global; Max Levchin, Co-Founder, PayPal; Luke Marklin, General Manager, Uber; The Honorable Kasim Reed, Mayor, City of Atlanta; Walter Robb, Co-CEO, Whole Foods; William H. Rogers, Jr., Chairman and CEO, SunTrust Banks, Inc.; Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, Chair and President, Charles Schwab Foundation; Valerie Williams, Diversity Program Manager, Airbnb; and Jane Wurwand, Founder and Chief Visionary, Dermalogica.  The event will be broadcast and livestreamed on HOPE Global Forums' Facebook page.

"We need to break down the walls that surround our definition of race, class, and economic structure. The Hope Global Forums is bringing together leaders and innovators from around the world to collaborate and empower those within our communities and to create a real, sustainable economy through job creation and education," says Operation HOPE founder, chairman and CEO, and HOPE Global Forums creator, John Hope Bryant.

The agenda is available here. Key sessions include:

• The Economics of Identity: Why It Matters – How does personal identity, poverty, discrimination influence the economic choices people make, their aspirations, or self-imposed limitations?
• Poverty and Inequality: Persistent Challenges, Threats to Stability and New Solutions – Despite decades of public and private sector intervention, persistent poverty remains entrenched in the U.S. and other developed countries and is coupled with rising income inequality.  What can be done to ensure that real opportunities exist for people at all socioeconomic levels and where will they come from?
• Fueling Entrepreneurship – Given the importance of the start-up, how can we better identify budding entrepreneurs and help them thrive?
• Vocational Education: Building the Next Middle Class – What public and private resources should be dedicated to increase access to technical education, offering the promise to build a new middle class?
• Unlocking the Economic Value of an Aging Workforce – With 70% of experienced professionals planning to work during retirement, how can they be absorbed into an already competitive job market?

The HOPE Global Forums, a key initiative of global financial dignity and economic empowerment nonprofit Operation HOPE, Inc., is a community of events designed to galvanize leadership towards building an economy that works for everyone. This is accomplished through a series of carefully curated thought leadership events, digital engagement, research, writings and public policy.

Visit www.hopeglobalforums.org for program details and confirmed participants.  Follow HOPE Global Forums on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for meeting news and highlights. The event hashtag is #HGF17.

About the HOPE Global Forums
The HOPE Global Forums are a community of events that serve as a call to action: to reimagine the global economy so the benefits and opportunities of free enterprise can be extended to everyone. We accomplish this through a series of carefully curated conferences, events and policy programs designed to foster leadership around this critical issue. Our Annual Meeting serves as our flagship event and is now the largest gathering of leaders in the world on behalf of empowering poor and underserved communities. HOPE Global Forums are an initiative of Operation HOPE, the global leader in providing financial dignity. Founded in 1992, Operation HOPE is the nation's first nonprofit, financial services network for underserved communities.

For more information: www.hopeglobalforums.org
Follow HOPE Global Forums on Twitter @HOPEGlobalForum

About Operation HOPE
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. Through its core programs, the nonprofit organization has provided financial dignity and economic empowerment to over 2.6 million individuals worldwide, and $2 billion in economic activity for the disenfranchised — turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small-business dreamers into small-business owners and minimum wage workers into living wage consumers. Project 5117 is HOPE's multiyear, four-pronged approach to combating economic inequality that aims to improve financial literacy, increase business role models and business internships for youth, and stabilize the American dream by boosting credit scores. Operation HOPE recently received its second consecutive four-star charity rating for fiscal management and commitment to transparency and accountability from the prestigious nonprofit evaluator Charity Navigator — further establishing it as a best-in-class organization. 

For more information, visit www.OperationHOPE.org.
Follow @operationhope on Twitter. 

SOURCE HOPE Global Forums

Related Links

http://www.hopeglobalforums.org