a $10 Million Reparations Budget

Becomes Law

It seems fitting that in a city called Providence, a $10 Million reparations budget has become a law. Mayor Jorge Elorza of Providence, RI, signed this budget into law on November 18th, 2022. Previously named the Covid-19 Equities Budget, this reparations budget was first met with deep skepticism, yet has seemingly become the template for other US cities to follow suit.

What It’s For

The city of Providence put together a Municipal Reparations Commission which decided how funds from the American Rescue Plan Act would be spent to close the racial equity gap. The City Council approved their proposal and the budget came before Mayor Elorza for his signature. The chairperson for the Commission, Mr. Rodney Davis, said at the signing that the budget was conceived “to close this wealth gap that is separating people because of the inequity in the systems around us.”

Elorza himself takes pride that his city was the first in the nation to sign a reparations budget into law, believing the actions taken by Providence should be the model for cities across the country to put reparations into practice. He firmly believes that placing Black voices within committees and commissions for city policymaking is key. These voices will then be able to best utilize and distribute reparations budgets nationwide. This strategy of Elorza’s in Providence is one-of-a-kind, and has not been matched by any other city in the United States.

The Relief it Offers

This $10 Million reparations budget includes funding for certain facets of education and financial stability. Homeownership is often only a dream for some Black and brown families, however with this budget, they will now have an easier time applying for—and being approved for—home loans. Financial literacy (which is why Financial Joy School exists) is another big winner with this budget. Closing the racial wealth gap needs financial education by necessity, and educating poorer communities is one of the first places to start.

Workforce training is also on the docket, to give Black and brown families the wisdom and knowledge of how to work in various industries, how to get hired at higher paying jobs, and how to apply at companies which offer amazing perks such as a 401k, health insurance for the whole family, and much-needed vacation time. 

Small businesses will also benefit from the reparations budget. Not only those already in business, but those that are mere concepts at present. Getting financial help to begin a business is hard enough, but the hill is even steeper for people of color. It takes more work and more sweat to climb your way out of a deeper hole, and the Providence Municipal Reparations Commission understands this. With Black voices on the Commission taking into account the everyday struggles of the average Black family in and around Providence, RI, there is a bright hope at the end of the tunnel that the racial equity gap will soon close in this region. This is a fantastic start and a commendable leap by Mayor Elorza and his team to give a voice to those in need and give financial aid where it’s needed most. Here’s to the rest of the country taking note and following in the footsteps of Providence.

To learn more about investing, closing the racial wealth gap, and growing generational wealth for Black and brown families, please visit Financial Joy School and become a part of our financial family.

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for Black Families

With the way the economy has been going and inflation on the rise, we might be looking at a coming recession. A recession is a period of decline in the economy that is accompanied by a rise in unemployment. When prices balloon with inflation, consumers spend less of their money to buy products. Companies, then, don’t make as much merchandise as demand falls. Without demand, there is no need to manufacture supply, which means employees are laid off as they are no longer needed. How might you and your family survive if a recession should hit? 

Prepare to be Laid Off

No one wants to hear they might lose their job, but the fact of the matter is you should prepare anyway in the event unemployment finds its way to you. Save as much money as you can, cut as many corners as you can, invest as much as you dare, and try to diversify your income stream. Don’t rely on one source of income but broaden your horizons into freelance work, learn a new skill that’s profitable, or offer a service with a side hustle. Do this now so that you can save money, but also so that you’re not caught off guard and need to establish yourself after you’ve already lost your job. 

Cut Costs

This one’s a no-brainer, but you’ll want to cut costs as much as possible. Go through your budget and see what you can cut out. Pile on the blankets instead of turning up the heat. Make coffee at home rather than going to the coffee shop. Make food at home, drive less to conserve your gas, and save what you don’t need to spend. Can you live without cable? Is it time to get rid of the land line phone? Can you handle riding public transit? When all the extras have been cut, the next thing to look at is the bills you pay and negotiate with yourself what you can and cannot live without.

Some Practical Things

Work on your resume. If you’re prepared to be laid off, you should also have your resume ready to apply elsewhere. Make sure it’s current with your recent work history as well as your current home address, email address, and phone number. 

Make sure you network. If you’re on LinkedIn, reach out to your colleagues, bosses, and anyone you can think of that might be able to help you should you find yourself in a tight spot. Networking now will cut back on the desperate dash to network once you’ve been let go from your job. 

Save your money. Whatever you save today might be what you have to live on tomorrow. Keep the worst case scenario in the forefront of your mind and save accordingly. It might start to feel lean around your house, but you’ll thank yourself one day for building an emergency fund for your family while the money is flowing.

Keep your eyes open. If your company is laying people off left and right, don’t wait for your turn on the chopping block. Now is the time to look around and keep your ear to the ground for any opportunity that might come your way. Some industries aren’t hit as hard by a recession than others, and these include the healthcare industry, government, utilities, and food, just to name a few. If you look for jobs within “recession-proof” industries, you might be able to give yourself and your family a good chance at surviving hard times.

To learn more about investing, closing the racial wealth gap, and growing generational wealth for Black and brown families, please visit Financial Joy School and become a part of our financial family.

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Let’s face it, most of us are in debt. Whether it’s charges on a credit card, a car loan through the bank, or both, chances are we owe someone somewhere a sum of money. How do you navigate investing when you have bills to pay? How can you tuck away money when you’re barely making ends meet? Let’s take a look at the difference between secured debt and unsecured debt and how you might approach each one with an eye for investing.

Strategic Investing When You Have Debt

Secured Debt

Secured debt is any debt you absolutely have to pay or they come to repossess your car or foreclose on your house. You’ll want to continue making payments on these debts to ensure you still have a place to live and a way to get to work. If there is some type of merchandise or collateral involved with a bank loan, a car loan, or a mortgage, repay it or risk having your possessions taken away.

Unsecured Debt

Unsecured debt is debt such as purchases on a credit card or taking out a cash loan. These types of debts do not have any valuables or merchandise to “take away” if the debt is not paid, and therefore they do not need to be paid down right away, even though a monthly due date looms. It is not a good idea to rack up more unsecured debt, but it is a good idea to take the following advice when it comes to investing while having these debts at the same time.

Be Financially Strategic 

STEP ONE

If unsecured debt doesn’t have the added stress of someone repossessing your goods, there is no need to tear out your hair paying them back right away.

Truth be told you can negotiate your monthly debt. Call your creditors and explain your situation and see what options they have available. If the representative you received was not helpful, call back and speak to a different representative. If they were not helpful call back again and ask to speak to a supervisor and see if you can get your interest rate and monthly payments lower.

If that step does not work, you should consider this action, only if it works for you and your family.

STEP TWO

Consider taking the money you would have paid to your unsecured debt and invest it. A few late payments will not hurt you, and while it might reflect on your credit score, the idea here is not to ignore your unsecured debt forever. It is to get the credit company to work with you, and sometimes the more late payments, the more help. 

I know this suggestion is unconventional and it must be. In order for us to build generational wealth we must think of ways to help us invest more. Once you invest your money for a period of time and let it grow, you’ll then have more money, and with that money, you’ll be able to decide how to use it for the betterment of your family. 

Don’t worry too hard about your credit score, as paying off these debts in full will help your credit score go back up. It might seem scary at first to allow your credit score to take a hit, but it will only bounce back in the long run. 

IN CONCLUSION…

Being strategic with how you pay your debt will help you later on down the road. You can become a strategic investor.

Investing your money is the best way—and the fastest way—to build wealth. By investing what you can in the stock market, you’re giving yourself a shot at a brighter future. Don’t stress about all your bills right now. When you find ways to put your money in your investments, you’ll eventually have a substantial nest egg that pays off—in the long term, not tomorrow or 3 years from now but decades from now your investments will pay off more than you can dream.

Let’s Build Generational Wealth for the betterment of our future, LET’S GO!

To learn more about investing, closing the racial wealth gap, and growing generational wealth for Black and brown families, please visit Financial Joy School and become a part of our financial family.

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Financial Joy School proudly showcases the African Diaspora Alliance this week as one of our distinguished distribution partners. The African Diaspora Alliance began as the dream of two Baltimore natives, Moriah Ray and Jasmine Hall, who envisioned a world for low-income Black youth to have the opportunity to travel and study abroad, but not only that, to learn through awareness of the African Diaspora. 

The African Diaspora is the worldwide population of people who have roots in African descent. This alliance seeks to eliminate the “exoticization” of being “foreign” and “other”, and instead seeks to bring connection and unity throughout the Diaspora. The goal is to educate students of weighty topics such as institutionalized racism, internalized racism, differences in access to health opportunities globally, and much more.

Small But Mighty

Small but mighty, the African Diaspora Alliance allows the opportunity for the Black youth of Baltimore to travel into all the world to study in such countries as Cuba, Brazil, and even the continent of Africa. By traveling abroad, underprivileged Black youth are exposed to a larger world than their own poor neighborhood back home. By exposing these impressionable minds to realities of the Diaspora worldwide, a solid foundation of knowledge and wisdom is laid through this unique kind of education. The world is much larger than themselves, and through this program, a deeper and richer appreciation of the Diaspora throughout the world is forged. On top of that, these Black students also come to more fully appreciate themselves as a member of this worldwide community as well.

We at Financial Joy School have partnered with the African Diaspora Alliance through our Project 10,000 movement made possible by the Wells Fargo Social Impact and Small Business Foundation, which provides Black and brown youth and families the education they need to close the racial wealth gap and build generational wealth. Through this partnership, the Black youth of the African Diaspora Alliance now have access to Ruby Taylor’s LEGACY! Card game which teaches investing and empowerment for your finances through fun. 

Taylor’s LEGACY! Card game offers a wide array of career opportunities as well as investment opportunities, teaching the players how to make their money work for them. This education is vital for Black youth and families to think outside the box when it comes to being smart about their money. 

Coming Together

This type of teaching tool helps Black youth and families to think critically by expanding their own horizons, which, ultimately, expands the Diaspora as well. A partnership between Financial Joy School and the African Diaspora Alliance was only natural and fitting for Black empowerment, not only in Baltimore, but throughout the world. 

With strong and successful Black women such as Moriah Ray, Jasmine Hall, and our own Ruby Taylor leading the way, the door is now open for Black youth and families to find their own voices in the world, not only within their identity and culture, but through their finances as well. 

To learn more about investing, closing the racial wealth gap, and growing generational wealth for Black and brown families, please visit Financial Joy School and become a part of our financial family.

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February is Black History Month and we’re proud to celebrate a man who has pulled himself up from rags to riches, Mr. Leon Howard, better known as Wall Street Trapper. As a young teen, Trapper lived in the ghettos of New Orleans and fell into the “trap” of dealing and crime. It’s the only life he knew. Convicted by the tender age of 16, Trapper served 10 years behind bars. While incarcerated, he struck up a conversation with another man, a White man, who boasted about his investments on Wall Street. While this man was in prison with Trapper for a short time, he would be wealthy by the time he was released.

That news got Trapper’s attention, and once Mr. Leon Howard was freed, he dedicated himself to learning about the stock market and investing money. Convinced there had to be a better way for Blacks to escape the “trap” and make wealth for themselves, he found the answer on Wall Street.

Most people chase after a fast buck, yet investing money is playing the long game. Here at Financial Joy School, we call this building generational wealth. This is exactly how rich people build their wealth, through investing, buying real estate, and buying stocks. The only thing holding Black people back from closing the racial wealth gap besides racism…is education. Wall Street Trapper will become a future Black historian by changing the narrative of crime, dealing, and prison time.

Wall Street Trapper Mission

Trapper’s mission is to educate and equip Black men and women to be smart with their finances by investing their money in the stock market. In fact, Trapper opened his own university called The Trapper University and offers classes and ebooks on how to invest. These courses are not focused toward those who are already rich, rather they speak to the truth and the reality of growing up and living in a poor and under resourced community. How do you break out? How do you succeed when poverty has always run in your family? How do you make a name for yourself?

Wall Street Trapper’s goal is to take the word “trap” and redefine it to empower the Black community that might view the trap as being inescapable. Within his own story, Trapper proves rising above poverty and crime can be done to become both a successful Black man and a successful Black entrepreneur through investing money in the stock market.

Building Wealth

Financial Joy School shares Wall Street Trapper’s vision of bringing financial education to black youth and families for building generational wealth. Investing any affordable amount can grow wealth. Growing wealth is the surest way to escape the “trap” of generational poverty. Through strong Black voices like Wall Street Trapper and our own Ruby Taylor, you too can build generational wealth for you and your family. 

There really is a “money tree” and it grows on Wall Street!

To learn more about investing, closing the racial wealth gap, and growing generational wealth for Black and brown families, please visit Financial Joy School and become a part of our financial family.

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At Financial Joy School, we work with several distribution partners to bring our vision of closing the racial wealth gap to as many Black and brown families as we can reach. We are proud to showcase our partnership with the Black Fathers Foundation, whose purpose is to build up and support Black fathers and their families. 

The Black Fathers Foundation began with an idea. In 2008, Matt Prestbury opened a simple Facebook group. Over the years, the group grew to become a flourishing community of Black men, celebrating fatherhood and supporting each other on similar journeys. Prestbury’s goal was to create a picture of dedicated Black fatherhood, rather than the caricature of Black fathers portrayed by the media, on television, and throughout society. In order to do this, he banded together with a group of like-minded Black men posting pictures, giving advice, and uniting in a brotherhood—through fatherhood.

By 2018, Prestbury and his wife Kelly decided to take their community and create a non-profit organization, bringing love and fellowship to many more dedicated Black fathers all over the country. By 2019, their dream came true. The Black Fathers Foundation took off and has never once looked back.

The goal of this foundation is to enable Black men, through various resources and commitment, to strengthen their families and become a powerful presence in the lives of their children. Their objectives are threefold. 

First, to challenge the stigma of Black fathers in society. 

Second, to become a beacon of fellowship and support for strong Black fathers. 

And third, to present financial opportunities for Black fathers to further better themselves with scholarships, sponsorships, and grants.

Through their amazing generosity and a heart for Black men, Prestbury and the Black Fathers Foundation have partnered with Financial Joy School to teach Black fathers how to build generational wealth for their families. They have brought 100 men to Georgia to play Ruby Taylor’s LEGACY! Card Game, which teaches players how to invest their money while giving options of choosing diverse career opportunities. This gives players a snapshot of what investing and building wealth might look like within their own lives. Taylor created this card game to promote excitement within Black and brown communities for building generational wealth and closing the racial wealth gap.

By partnering with Taylor and Financial Joy School, the Black Fathers Foundation is one of Taylor’s Project 10,000 partners, a movement which began through a generous grant donated by the Wells Fargo Social Impact & Small Business Foundation. This grant allowed Taylor the opportunity to create and donate 10,000 LEGACY! Card Games to her distribution partners. Through the passion of both Taylor and Prestbury, Black fathers now have the opportunity to learn how to build a firm financial foundation for their children and families.

The bottom line is simple. In order for Black families to flourish, they need strong Black fathers and a strong understanding of how to make, save, and invest their money. Through the partnership of Financial Joy School and the Black Fathers Foundation, Black and brown families are given a promising future, not only for financial peace, but for the peace of mind of Black fathers everywhere.

To learn more about investing, closing the racial wealth gap, and growing generational wealth for Black and brown families, please visit Financial Joy School and become a part of our financial family.

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