Hope Investment

In 2012 (or so) we were gathered around the kitchen table, and a spark of inspiration was lit. Tired of constantly talking about all the issues within our community, we decided to take action and do something about it. We knew that collectively we had a few resources at our disposal – good jobs, a decent amount of wealth, and some investment experience. So we concluded that we should form a group to help solve some of the issues in our community. Our group would have three objectives... (1) Invest with each other in various investment opportunities. (2) Provide philanthropic support for the community and each other’s charitable passions. (3) Develop social and professional connections amongst the members themselves. The concept mirrors groups that exist in other communities, Hispanic and Jewish, but not in our own African American communities. These groups are often the first source of funding for new businesses in their community, the guiding counsel for each other’s families, provide access to job opportunities and new business deals, and a strong positive support system for the men that are members. We are proud to say that we have consistently executed on all of those functions and more… We started by putting $5000 each into a joint trading account in the stock market and invested in stocks together for a while. Since we have dissolved that fund and we are now an angel investment group.