The Work

Quincy Jones says: It takes 20 years to change a culture. Weve spent the last 20 years making dumb sexy. At Operation HOPE, we believe it is critically important that we change the cultural tide and Make Smart Sexy. At the core of the 5 MILLION KIDS Initiative is a national campaign to re-brand education in the minds and hearts of young people. One of the key reasons children are dropping out of high school is because they dont see education as relevant to their future. When there is consistently too much month at the end of the money in your home and the messages youre receiving from both popular media and the members of your community is that fast cars, designer jeans and diamond jewelry equate to happiness and success, you dont have a lot of motivation to stay in school. When your role models value material possessions and attain them through dealing drugs or becoming a rap or hip hop star, the notion that finishing high school does not have any value for your life, is further confirmed.

Children need to see and interact with adults around them everyday that serve as examples of what they can become. When children do not have role models in their communities, overwhelmingly, they think success, in all its various forms, is for someone else other than them. Our kids are dropping out of high school because they are sharp observers of their environments and they model their lives after what theyre exposed to.

• The 5 MILLION KIDS Initiative will teach 5 million kids, their parents and teachers how to get rich, legally through financial literacy; the language of money, free enterprise capitalism, and ownership.
• The 5 MILLION KIDS Initiative will launch a 5% Movement, working to get the percentage of role models in our urban communities up to 5% or higher by placing a minimum of 25,000 volunteers in the classroom.
• The 5 MILLION KIDS Initiative will partner with community based organizations and financial institutions to open Starter Savings Accounts for the youth.
• The 5 MILLION KIDS Initiative will secure $50 million in Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) for parents, teachers and adults.
• The 5 MILLION KIDS Initiative will open 50,000 new bank accounts for the unbanked and under-banked using the proceeds of their EITC benefits.
• The 5 MILLION KIDS Initiative will recruit 5,000 grassroots leaders

In order to Make Smart Sexy again, get our youth re-engaged in school and live with the personal dignity that comes with knowing that they CAN succeed in life: we need YOU.