Junior Investors Cohort 

 Introduction/Statement of Purpose

A foundational understanding of finances is required in order to live a successful and comfortable life. Unfortunately, many families, especially those in low income communities, are ill-equipped to keep up in a world where they aren’t provided with the necessary preparation. Finance classes are reserved for schools with the necessary funding and students from low-income families aren’t let in on the secrets of the financial world until college, or after when they are far behind their more fortunate peers. This cycle has continued to oppress these communities for decades. Our Organization, Junior Investors, is committed to the Citi Foundation’s mission of ending that cycle and working to build financial knowledge in low income communities. 

Background and Mission

We aim to partner with schools, specifically ones that lack classes outside the standard curriculum such as financial management,  and send in resources to fill that gap. We will provide students with information and experiences that they wouldn’t otherwise have. We also aim to assist them in finding internships and accumulate the money we hope to teach them how to spend and benefit them. We will offer in-house positions along with external positions at companies we develop relationships with. 

Project Description

Our program will start with offering a sign-up based class at our target schools in low income neighborhoods. The class would be made available to both juniors and seniors as we believe them to be the group who will benefit most from receiving the information. Class size would be decided based on assessment of the school’s size. Multiple classes might also be offered based on that assessment. Over the course of the semester, students will be led by finance professionals that we hire in learning how to construct their own financial portfolios. They will be given the foundational knowledge, taken on field trips and given all the tools they need to succeed. There will be a culminating project in which they are given a budget and tasked with designing an actual portfolio. We will be using the paid services of Bloomberg for Education. They offer students the opportunity to complete credited financial exams.

We will also assist students in an internship matching process. In addition to setting them up to have successful financial portfolios we also strive to assist them in finding successful careers and internships are a key component of that. We will offer a handful of internal positions that will last for the duration of the school year along with external positions at companies we hope to develop relationships with. We will teach students about careers that are available to them, allow them to connect with industry professionals we bring in for visits, encourage the use of linkedin and teach them how to conduct themselves in professional settings. 

Sustainability Plan

We plan on sustaining ourselves through multiple grants along with community donations. 

Budget Overview

$30000 – Faculty Compensation

$7500 – Online learning resources (i,e Bloomberg Portal)

$10000 Student Learning Trips

$20000 – Internal Student Internship Compensation 

The received Grant Money will be allocated toward employing industry professionals to instruct students, compensating students through our internal positions, field trips and the awards for each student at the end of the semester. All of the money we receive will be put back into supporting our students.

$30000 Student Investment Fund

$30000 Faculty Compensation 

$7500 Online Learning Resources (ie. Bloomberg Portal)

$7500 Student Learning Trips

$10000 Internal Internship Compensation

Conclusion

We have a strong desire to provide low-income students with the same resources as their future peers and a grant from the Citi Foundation will be a pivotal step toward that goal. Thank you for your consideration and providing programs like ours with the opportunity to help our communities.