Chris Paul Launches Month-Long Initiative To Provide Financial Freedom For Minority Youth
NBA star and NBPA president Chris Paul is teaming up with Black-owned financial technology company Goalsetter to launch a Black History Month campaign to help youth of color learn how to save money. The initiative will use Goalsetter’s finance app which focuses on providing teens and tweens with an education-first banking experience.
According to CNBC, Paul, along with the campaign’s other featured athletes, will each select 100 young people and deposit $40 in a savings account set up in the Goalsetter mobile banking app. It’s a nod to the 40 acres and a mule concept that harkens to the Federal government’s failure to redistribute land after the Civil War and the economic hardship that African Americans suffered as a result.
The program is called "Drafted," and is timed along with the start of Black History Month and will also teach the kids about the importance of saving, investing and financial literacy as the key to building wealth. Paul is getting the kids from the Club 61 Leadership Alliance in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
“Black History Month is a reminder of hundreds of years that blacks were the workforce and consumer class in the United States,” Paul said in a statement. “This partnership is to learn from our history and create a strong future for the next generation of black and brown children to become saviors and investors. Financial education is to create an equal America. It’s a necessary and important factor.“
Individuals from the NBA Players Association, WNBA, MLB, and NHL will also be participating in the campaign including Jaylen Brown, Harrison Barnes and Anthony Tolliver, and retired NBA Star Baron Davis.
Accounts provided with a $40 deposit will be insured by the FDIC. The campaign aims to eventually reach one million children as it grows.
“Our players are already involved with goal setters and are starting to use them with their families,” said Que Gaskins, NBPA’s Chief Brand and Innovation Officer. “We are excited about this opportunity to support them and work with goal setters to inspire this move on financial literacy for children across the country.”
Each selected student will receive:
A savings account through the Goalsetter app
A deposit of $40 in their individual FDIC insured Goalsetter accounts
Weekly fun financial literacy quizzes designed for kids that are culturally relevant
A Cashola Card (the Goalsetter tween and teen debit card backed by Mastercard) that has game-based financial literacy quizzes attached to it.
“Our mission is to empower the youth of today to fulfill their dreams of tomorrow, and we couldn’t think of better partners to amplify the message of empowerment and achieving goals than these NBA players, who are leaders both on and off the court,” said Goalsetter founder & CEO Tanya Van Court in a statement.
Goalsetter has been featured on SharkTank, and was developed using Van Court’s experience as a former Nickelodeon and ESPN executive.
The experience combines fun, quiz-based games, memes and GIFs from hip-hop artists, social media influencers, and pop culture personalities all with the goal of educating kids about finances and savings.
For more about Drafted, visit drafted.goalsetter.com.
