ADVOCATING FOR YOUTH FINANCIAL HEALTH SUPPORT
Money Magnets Club Co-Founder, Dr. Alexandra Arrington and Founder of Fearless Brown Girls, Diana Williams kicked off the month by exercising the right to be heard by the elected officials at Mecklenburg County representing me and the youth residing here, who we owe a real chance to thrive. Along with my fellow colleague and financial health nonprofit leader Diana B. Williams, we shared the need for intentional support for youth financial health and asked that to be reflected clearly in this upcoming budget cycle. Here is a snippet of our main points:
1. Financial health is an integral part of overall health and is involved in every other aspect of our health.
2. Focusing more attention on helping youth build strong and healthy financial habits is necessary to get in front of trying to repair poor habits later in life.
3. The majority of people in the chamber and on the dais that evening had not taken a personal finance/financial literacy course in their K-12 years but make financial decisions all the time. We did a live poll!
4. A 2025 WalletHub study ranked Charlotte 5th worst out of 100 cities for individuals in financial distress and a Columbia University Medical School study correlates $5,000 in additionally available funds to longevity for an individual’s lifespan. Financial distress cuts down on quality and potentially the length of your life...
5. There are some great things happening at the County to explore and encourage financial health (supplemental income pilots; Public Health/Office of Violence Preventions’s The Way Forward report and plan) but more needs to be done, specifically to support youth financial health initiatives.
Support youth serving financial health and literacy organizations locally today! preneurcollective.com is one place to do so, and https://lnkd.in/etxtU8-y is another.
Check out some of the items I referenced following, and view the full comments at https://watch.mecknc.gov/:
- The Way Forward strategic report: https://lnkd.in/e24faBi9
- Wallet Hub study: https://lnkd.in/eEBAV2Ac
- Columbia Study: https://lnkd.in/eGqiQNvB