Financial literacy is low among Black communities but one special kid is seeking to reverse the trend with his financial literacy center for kids. Caden Harris, an 11-year-old from the metro Atlanta, Georgia area, was raised by his two veteran parents, one Air Force and One Navy. He is also the younger of two siblings. His parents are entrepreneurs, and so is his elder sibling.
According to him, his passion for learning financial literacy started when he attended conferences with his dad. He told Medium that he realized money gives people choices, like where to live, the amount of healthy food they can buy and the amount of people they can help.
He noted that his first money lesson began when he asked for a video game and his parents told him he could get but he would have to earn the money. For three weeks, Harris worked in the family business to earn money.
“At the end of the three weeks I realized that earning money takes a lot of what my dad would call sweat equity, meaning I would likely have to break a sweat to earn the money I wanted,” he said.
Harris wanted other kids to understand the sweat of earning money too. He, therefore, used his experience and what he learned through the generational wealth academy to start his own business with a $200 investment from his dad.
First, his parents supported him to write his first book by age eight. According to Black Business, he recently purchased a 54-seat passenger bus that he is raising funds to convert into a financial literacy traveling mobile unit to visit schools and create a money educational experience for area youth.
Also, local schools, youth church groups, Boys & Girls Clubs continue to engage him to teach kids of his age financial literacy. According to Black Business, these organizations have continued to engage his services by inviting him back each year as the kids he has previously taught show they are motivated to learn about money.
The bus will allow Harris to expand his dream of expanding financial literacy education and include more ways of shaping the minds of the youth when it comes to learning how to earn, save and also invest money.
On his mobile literacy bus, participants will be taught how to walk through careers to earn money. For instance, the program will teach kids how to budget using a mock grocery store experience. There will also be a mock bank where kids will learn how to register and open a bank account and a tablet station where they will learn about investments.
To make this a reality, Harris is counting on his community to assist him achieve his dream of renovating the newly purchased bus in order to continue his passion of teaching financial literacy.
