Operation HOPE and Wells Fargo announced the grand welcome of a new ‘HOPE Inside’ location in Los Angeles, California. The award-winning HOPE Inside program, which offers access to free financial coaching services, will be located within Wells Fargo’s Florence & Central Branch, 1144 E. Florence Ave., Los Angeles, CA.
“Wells Fargo has been a long-time partner of Operation HOPE and we are excited to help accelerate their commitment to increasing financial literacy,” said John Hope Bryant, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE. “Nearly a decade later, we see the true impact of our HOPE Inside model. Together, we will continue to uplift families in Los Angeles one relationship at a time.”
Operation HOPE is a nonprofit founded by John Hope Bryant in 1992 following the LA uprisings. The organization’s mission is to disrupt improve the financial wellness of millions of low- and moderate-income families across the nation with a focus on financial dignity and inclusion. Through its award-winning ‘HOPE Inside’ model, the organization equips young people and adults with financial tools and education to help secure a better future. All programs and services are offered at no cost to the client.
Together, Operation HOPE and Wells Fargo are expanding their collaboration to create HOPE Inside locations in 20 markets across the US by the end of 2023. Wells Fargo is one of Operation HOPE’s first financial and strategic partners, supporting the organization’s initiatives for more than 30 years.
Each HOPE Inside office provides communities with free credit and money management education and one-on-one credit counseling with a trained, experienced individual financial coach.
HOPE Inside programming includes credit and money management including various consumer credit counseling certifications such as CFPB and FDIC, among others. The HOPE 700-Credit-Score-Communities initiative supports participants in raising their credit scores to 700, which is a threshold for establishing good credit. Three-hour workshops are held one Saturday morning each month at HOPE Inside locations. Anyone who has completed a workshop can schedule a private counseling session to get one-on-one advice and continue improving money management skills. Multiple workshops are available at no cost.
According to the HOPE Financial Wellness Index, which reports anonymized data, the average credit score in the Florence & Central community (zip code 90001) is 661 compared to the national average of 698. The Index overlays resident credit score data with other critical information on education, homeownership, income, life expectancy, and crime to identify the neighborhoods most in need. These statistics help inform policy, program and service offerings, and provide residents a greater understanding of their specific community’s financial health. For more information about HOPE Inside, click here.