Activism Through Financial Education

Carl Levy III ’25, Marketing major and Legal Studies minor, is one of our Financial Literacy Fellows assigned to teaching young people at the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco. When working with today’s youth, the next generation of educators can see the need to prepare students for financial success! Read Carl’s experience and how activism can take place in the classroom. 

1. What was your motivation for getting involved in financial literacy?  

My motivation for getting involved with financial literacy is making sure that the next generation has a better understanding of how their money works and what they need to do to grow that money or put it into things that they are passionate about. The values that I share definitely were the same as that of financial literacy and that’s to make sure that my community not only has the knowledge of something unbeknownst to them, but the opportunity to change their current situation.

2. Why be a Financial Literacy Fellow?

The staff who were involved with the program definitely made me want to be a part of it! The folks at the McCarthy Center gave me an understanding of why this is important for the world and why we are needed to continue being educators, especially for the next generation. There’s a lot of new information that is coming out that isn’t necessarily given to kids at this early age. Personally, I didn’t know about bank accounts or anything like that until I was in the later stages of middle school.

3. How does activism fit into this picture?

Activism — is just being who I am. These kids go to school every day and take the time in their day to come learn about something that they don’t have knowledge of. My activism is to make sure that they understand what we’re talking about while ensuring that they’re having fun as well. We’re providing an opportunity for their knowledge to expand and grow. In doing so, we have to go above and beyond what is needed.

4. Can you share an “ah-ha” moment while working as a Literacy Fellow?

A moment like that would be our students finding out that we were in college but still share some similar things with them like watching TV or other types of shows. We shared that experience, especially with social media. In watching the same TikToks that some of these kids are watching, we were able to relate to a lot of things with them. We incorporated their lives into our lesson plans to make it a lot easier for them to follow and keep their attention.

5. Where will you take this experience and how will it affect your path?

I will take this experience with me as I continue to grow. It’s definitely a surreal moment…getting the opportunity to be an educator especially in this day and age where a lot of people aren’t taking the time to reach out to these kids and build relationships with them. I feel that the whole point of being an educator is making sure that not only do we relate to them and have the same common goal of gaining knowledge, but we also make sure that they understand that we’re there for them and want them to grow.

A lot of times, these kids don’t come from the same backgrounds or get the same opportunities that more fortunate children get. If I’m able to give any opportunity for them to get ahead, whether it be with the lesson plans that we develop or just from my experiences, I definitely want to give that opportunity to them. Knowing this, allows me to continue to serve and continue to build the foundation for these kids, thus making sure that they have an understanding that learning is fun and that they can continue whether or not I’m there leading the lesson.

Like this blog post? Read another guest contributor’s experience as a Financial Literacy tutor HERE