Our Wallet is on a mission to provide teenagers from BIPOC backgrounds with financial literacy education.
The program was created by Maelstrom Fund — the family office of Arthur Hayes — in partnership with the Jackie Robinson Foundation and World of Money to provide knowledge on financial literacy, crypto, blockchain technology, NFTs, and more, according to information provided to AfroTech.
In December 2022, the pilot program was first introduced to 30 high school students based in New York over a three-day period.
Fast forward to today, and 13 middle school students had a chance to participate in the financial wellness program during the summer of 2023.
“Less than a quarter of high school students in the US have access to personal finance courses, which means that 75% will graduate in 2023 without the education they need to be financially literate,” said Hayes in a statement provided to AFROTECH. “Our goal is to connect with youth at the fundamental ages of 13-18 and offer relatable and engaging personal finance programming that will serve them throughout adulthood. We want to empower the next generation to not just understand but make the most of their finances – with the ultimate goal of ensuring that our students are equipped to live their best lives.”
Our Wallet hosted various activations such as the Crypto Genius Bar, a hands-on workshop that empowers students with skills and knowledge to activate and protect their crypto wallets.
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“Our Wallet is beyond a necessity for next-generation education – with a hyper-focus on crypto literacy as well as overall financial wellbeing of future leaders, it was an honor to educate the students in the program of the enablement possible through NFTs and the broad Web3 environment,” expressed Web3 platform Hyperspace Founding Member Bryan Jun. “I’m excited to see where these students take this knowledge and thrilled to see them build their own financial empires through the Our Wallet building blocks.”
Furthermore, the youth gained access to a “thoughtfully designed curriculum” led by experts that covered an array of subjects such as cryptocurrency, business development, investments, the history of money, among others.
Additionally, participants a part of the program had a chance to receive $1,000 to invest in cryptocurrency, based on their Instagram profile.
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“Our Wallet puts the fundamentals of online financial freedom straight into the hands of students and teaches them how to leverage it for their own good — and the good of their community. Endaoment was excited to bring lessons about philanthropy, tax mitigation, and financial empowerment into the classroom, and students were eager to learn and participate,” explained Endaoment President and CEO Robbie Heeger in a statement sent to AFROTECH.
So far, students are finding their experience through the Our Wallet program to be transformative. According to data shared with us, 81% of participants described their experience to be engaging and informative, while 72% felt more confident about their investment journey.
“NFT and Crypto are decentralized and can increase your wealth,” a New York student said of their experience in the 2022 summer program.
As for what’s next, Our Wallet plans to increase their efforts to reach more students in the near future.
“With the feedback and the success of both pilots we are prepped and ready to deliver this information at scale,” a statement from the program reads.
