The Shawn Carter Foundation, supported by Toyota Motor North America, introduced Champions for Financial Legacy (CFFL), a comprehensive financial education initiative aimed at empowering students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
“We are excited to see our partnership with the Shawn Carter Foundation evolve to include this innovative initiative,” Monica Womack, general manager of D+I and community engagement at Toyota, said in a statement. “One that not only provides resources to HBCU students but also reaches the heart of the community, through advocacy for financial literacy.”
CFFL was developed in partnership with The Coalition for Equity and Opportunity at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The program is modeled after Professor Keith Weigelt’s (a partner of the SCF since 2017) accredited curriculum at the Wharton School and Bridges to Wealth, a financial education and wealth-building program.
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Beginning in the Spring 2025 semester, CFFL will be available to students at Lincoln University, Norfolk State University, and Virginia State University. It will focus on the stock market, budgeting, credit scores, market risks and returns, and mutual funds; The goal is to provide students with a roadmap for success and the tools to build generational wealth.
“One way to strengthen the resiliency of middle-class households is to increase their ability to generate wealth,” Dr.Weigelt explained. “I thank both the Shawn Carter Foundation and Toyota for their foresight in addressing a long-neglected social disparity.”
CFFL aims to reduce the growing wealth gap by equipping students with the financial knowledge and skills needed for economic success and social mobility.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), Black households made up 13.6% of all U.S. households but held only 4.7% of all wealth. And their median wealth ($24,520) was about one-tenth the median wealth of households with a White householder ($250,400).
“Every day at the Shawn Carter Foundation, we dedicate ourselves to uplifting students and communities that are underserved,” said Dr. Gloria Carter, Jay-Z’s mother and the CEO/Co-founder of the Shawn Carter Foundation . “To launch a financial education program that will reach more students and communities, along with dedicated partners like Toyota and the Wharton School of Business, is a vision we are finally seeing come to fruition. We are so excited to see the incredible impact of CFFL unfold and look forward to its growth.”
