As an extension of our digital and experiential learning resources, JASoCal hosted our third in a series of JA Virtual Town Halls for Southern California’s Teens – “Get Smart About Credit” on October 21, 2021.
Hosted by NBC4 Today in LA Anchor Daniella Guzman, this one-hour, interactive Q&A program gave students direct access to some of the region’s best business leaders, entrepreneurs, and influencers as they shared their personal credit experiences and provided their expertise on credit, debt and how to prepare for their financial futures.
Panelists Included:
- Lybroan James, Ed.M., Chief Edication Officer at MILOedu
- Jordan Nichols, Partnerships at STEP
- Belva Anakwenze, Founder & Principal of Abacus Financial Business Management
- Maria Beckman, SVP/Regional Executive, Bank of America & JASoCal Board Member
- Abigail Lovell, SVP Shared Marketing at Experian
- Guatam Gupta, Student & Co-Founder of Dimes to Dollars
“A recent survey showed that 64% of teens who participated in previous Town Halls wanted to learn more on the topic of credit and we agree that it is critical knowledge for students who are about to graduate high school,” said Les McCabe, CEO & President. “Many of the students who will be joining us are from underserved communities who will likely need to consider loans as a means to pay for college. We want to introduce these concepts, which are often not learned until later in life, to prepare them to make smart financial decisions.”
“Financial Literacy is a survival skill that every student needs to have and yet the state of California does not require personal finance education in order to graduate” says Kat Delgado Kirkwood, SVP of Programs at JASoCal. “That is where JASoCal comes in. We work with schools and local and national corporate sponsors, to fill that gap and equip kids with the tools to empower them to take better care of themselves and their families. Because we still can’t easily access classrooms at this time, we’ve been able to reach large groups of students in the virtual setting which has been a really wonderful way to reach students we may have never reached before.”
Sponsors of the virtual event include: Bank of America, American Honda Finance Corporation, Cathay Bank, Bank of Hope, CIT, Banc of California, Kay and Sam Sheth, IBM, Beneficial State Bank, Carolyn & John Tipton, Amazon Studios, Luther Burbank Savings, Gallagher, Western Asset Management, J.P. Morgan
A recording of the video is available to view on the JASoCal Youtube Channel HERE.
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