Moneythink, an organization that USC Marshall School of Business student Chirag Sagar founded at the University of Southern California in October 2010, provides peer-mentorship and financial literacy for urban youth. The group is helping disadvantaged high school students manage their money in innovative ways.

The program has grown to 30 student mentors teaching hundreds of students in several high schools across the Los Angeles.  The curriculum includes financial life skills and entrepreneurship.  The classes are focused on teaching students how to manage a budget, save money, avoid debt and how to invest their money wisely. On the entrepreneurship side, the students learn to work in teams to create a viable product or service with the potential for profit and community building.  

One of the founders of Moneythink, Ted Gonder, was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago when he saw a lack of financial literacy in Chicago during the great recession of 2008.  He saw pawn shops and cash advance centers at every corner in Chicago act as dangerous lures for young people, and there was a serious need to educate these kids on how to properly manage money.  Those who are poor are at an even bigger risk of getting into debt at a young age. 

Since its launch in 2008, Moneythink has expanded to 17 universities, including a branch at USC, founded by Sagar in 2010. Moneythink has reached thousands of students nationwide with an army of college-student mentors committed to fighting poverty in their local communities.

Student organziations like Moneythink are the future leaders in war on poverty.  When you take a talented, smart young person and put them in a classroom of kids that have been mostly neglected by society, fantastic progress can be made. 

How can you expect the future generations to grow up and thrive in a globally competitive world without the skills necessary to manage and grow money? How can we expect the future to be fiscally responsible without teaching key skills?

While kids in China are learning math and science at an accelerated rate, kids in America aren’t even learning how to balance a checkbook.

Moneythink is one step forward in the fight against the disease of financial illiteracy. It is taking the nation by storm and deserves support.  Moneythink has even caught the attention of the White House. It was just selected as one of 15 finalists out of over 1400 applicants for the White House Champions of Change Campus Challenge. The top five causes with the highest number of votes will be recognized at the White House. They will also be featured on MTV, which will mean a ton of publicity.  

If you would like to support Moneythink, you can cast your vote for them here.

 

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