“Blessed” for financial coaching: Money Coach alum and education partner share program impact

FacebookLinkedInTwitterAdmittedly, Divyne, 17, was a “horrible saver.” Divyne said her Money Coach lessons and mentors at PEARLS for Teen Girls gave her “a plan.”

And, as she’s worked part-time jobs and packed away money during her senior year at Riverside University H.S., she has been able to check off one of the goals on her plan – buying a car “that gets her from A to B,” a 1989 Chevy Celebrity.

“We don’t learn these values in school,” said Divyne (at left). “I feel blessed to know this type of information, to have been in Money Coach.”

Divyne and fellow Money Coach alum, Taleavia, joined PEARLS education partner Danita Bush to share insight on the impact of the Money Coach program on past students and those to come during a recent SecureFutures board directors meeting. Below are a few excerpts of impact from the Money Coach conversation, held at the Milwaukee headquarters of PEARLS for Teen Girls.

Danita, on what stands out to her about Money Coach: “The stories the girls tell how Money Coach has impacted them … Alissa, another PEARLS alum, a junior at M.S.O.E., reached out last year because she was having some struggles managing her finances. Because she was a participant in Money Coach she knew she had to get herself back on track.” (Danita is pictured below, seated at the top-right, next to Taleavia, in the purple shirt.)

[Alissa] reached out and said, ‘Hey, I know we had this budgeting sheet that we used in Money Coach. Do you still have it? Can you email it to me? I would love to use it to get back on track.’ We sent it to her and she’s doing awesome.”

Taleavia, a sophomore at Milwaukee Area Technical College, on the “ripple effect” from applying financial education: “I was the first one in my house to have a bank account, and I’m the second-youngest out of six.”

“My parents saved, sure, mom in a wallet, dad in hidden ‘stash’ in a shoebox … I brought both of them over [to bank accounts]. Now I’m working on my siblings … my friends also.”

Divyne, who dreams of becoming an accountant, on the connections she’s made with her Money Coaches and with other business leaders at Money Coach events: “Kara [Coates, her Money Coach and an accountant at Cardinal Stritch] was so proud of me and it made me feel so good.”

“At those events … I got to talk to actual accountants. They told me to call them in the future. I can get a job out of college! That really did something for me. I’ve got their [business] cards to this day and I’m going to use them.”

Also at the board meeting, Money Coach Program Manager Stephaine Crosley made sure to send a bit of praise to education partners like Danita, who serves as a college and career readiness program manager at PEARLS.

“They are our voices inside of the organizations, inside of the schools. We rely on them during the sessions to connect with their students and act as an extension of us,” Stephaine said. “It’s a partnership.”

The new semester of Money Coach kicks off this month at sites such as PEARLS for Teen Girls. Watch a video story of Divyne and her coach here. To hear a poem on financial empowerment by Taleavia, watch here. For more information on the one-of-a-kind Money Coach financial mentoring program, visit here.

2021-08-18T09:46:49-05:00
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