ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A new project in Allentown will help teach kids as young as 6 years old to manage their money.
Jasmine Salgado and Steve Redmond work for the Valley Wealth Alliance, a nonprofit tasked with assisting low and moderate-income people in the region with their finances.
- "Kidz Mean Business" is a new program from Valley Wealth Alliance, which will teach kids as young as 6 how to manage money
- Older kids, up to 18, will learn practical finance like taxes and credit, as well as advanced things like starting a small business
- Future goal: to make Allentown more of a motivating, "shining light" place
What started as just a small part of their curriculum is now morphing into an eight-month program called, “Kidz Mean Business.”
The new free program, which kicks off Thursday at The Caring Place on Hamilton Street in Allentown, will range in offerings for kids as young as 6 years old and all the way up to young adults in their late-teens.
For younger kids, activities will include counting gumdrops and playing with fake money. For older kids, they will include pitching real businesses ideas and making business plans.
All of these programs will offer day-to-day tools as well, such as learning about car financing, credit cards, and savings.
Salgado is a financial teacher and treasurer with the Valley Wealth Alliance.
“We plant those seeds,” she said. “We don’t want you to go out and buy those new Nikes because they just dropped, and you have exactly that amount of money, you know, saved under your mattress.”
Strength through struggle
Redmond and Salgado say they see a common thread from kids in the program: resilience and serious ambition. They say many come from lower-income backgrounds and face alienation or bullying at school because of their business aspirations.
“I don’t know what makes kids pick on another student for doing something different,” Salgado said. “It’s tough for them.”
Salgado said the kids usually stay stoic, even though they’re being bullied, sometimes severely.
“The kids are resilient here, they’re amazing,” she said. “They’re so strong, from what we can see anyway. There have been a couple of breakdowns, a couple of emotional moments.”
“I think the struggle, along with the lessons, will make them stronger,” Redmond said.
Redmond is the founder of the Valley Wealth Alliance and says this program provides something he wishes existed when he was a kid.
“We try to show them the other side of life,” he said. “A lot of times, in the wards in our town, the kids don’t really leave their ward unless they’re going to school, and they’re coming right back. So we try to, you know, take them to Philadelphia, show them different parts, how different people live.”
Mentorship and growth
Salgado and Redmond say they also want to help make impact on Allentown's younger generations through mentorship.
“We partner them with a mentor, local business people can evolve by becoming a mentor,” Redmond said.
“So, let’s say that kid wants to get into a t-shirt shop, or something, we’ll try to hook it up with a local t-shirt guy to say ‘hey, I’m going to be your mentor’, and that’s part of giving back to the community,” he said.
"Allentown is—I can't explain how—but it's not a motivating type of town," Redmond said. "I don't know why that is. Bethlehem, Easton, all those towns are very motivating. We want to bring that shining light to the city, and grow."
Redmond said the program is accepting volunteers and mentors of many different kinds. More information is on their website.