Operation HOPE and SCORE Forge Community Partnership to Empower Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs Across America

ATLANTA, Feb. 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Operation HOPE, a national nonprofit dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and financial literacy, today announced a partnership with SCORE, the nation's largest network of volunteer business mentors. This partnership, designed to support small businesses, underscores a shared commitment to empower small businesses and underrepresented entrepreneurs nationwide.

SCORE, which consists of over 10,000 volunteers, provides aspiring and current entrepreneurs with free expert mentorship, resources, and education in all 50 U.S. states and territories. For 60 years, SCORE has supported American small businesses in launching, growing and thriving.

Through this partnership, Operation HOPE and SCORE will offer business mentorship to small businesses participating in Operation HOPE's 1 Million Black Business Initiative, as well as to Operation HOPE clients recovering from natural disasters.

The 1 Million Black Business Initiative (1MBB) is one of Operation HOPE's flagship programs and has been at the forefront of growing Black entrepreneurship in America. 1MBB provides Black businesses with resources, mentorship, training, and access to capital. Since its launch in 2020, nearly 400,000 new Black businesses have been created and engaged through the program.

"This partnership with SCORE reflects our constant evolution in ensuring we are making local, regional, and national connections to empower, support, and grow small businesses nationwide," said John Hope Bryant, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Operation HOPE. "By working with an organization like SCORE, which understands the commitment to service in reaching our goals through initiatives like 1MBB and disaster relief programs, we can provide necessary resources and drive economic success for entrepreneurs nationwide." 

The partnership includes SCORE's support for Operation HOPE small business clients loan and grant documentation preparation. The two organizations will also collaborate on administering educational sessions, 1:1 coaching, and access to resources for small businesses.

Leveraging Operation HOPE's extensive network and continued success in their programs , along with SCORE's expertise in business mentorship and development, the partnership will equip entrepreneurs and small businesses with high-quality resources and teams committed to  help them thrive.

For more information, visit operationhope.org and www.score.org.

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 award-winning community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4 million individuals and directed more than $4 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. Operation HOPE recently received Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Award for driving entrepreneurship as well as its tenth consecutive 4-star charity rating for fiscal management and commitment to transparency and accountability from the prestigious non-profit evaluator, Charity Navigator. Operation HOPE also recently launched The 1865 Project, an initiative designed to help level the economic playing field for underserved Americans. For more information: OperationHOPE.org. Join the HOPE conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About SCORE
Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 17 million entrepreneurs start, grow or successfully exit a business. SCORE's 10,000 volunteers provide free, expert mentoring, resources and education in all 50 U.S. states and territories. Visit SCORE at SCORE.org. SCORE is funded [in part] through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Contacts: 
Kevin Boucher
[email protected]

Lalohni Campbell
[email protected]

SOURCE Operation HOPE, Inc.