On June 14th, we kicked off our latest community engagement project entitled “EDGE…ing Toward a Brighter Future” in partnership with Wealthy Habits and the Andrew & Walter Young YMCA in Atlanta.
After seeing an opportunity to use our financial knowledge to educate the future generations, we jumped at the opportunity to put this project into motion. On our first day of the training, we had 17 youth join us with additional sessions being held during the following days.
One of the most impactful activities of the day was when the participants were “hired” to complete a “job”- to complete 25 jumping jacks. So, once they completed their “job”, they received an actual paper paycheck broken out in $100 increments. They had to tear off portions of their checks to pay rent, insurance, car payments, etc., all to discover that they did not have much to “splurge” with at the end of the month.
Vice President, Client Services, Nicole Pichon, said “The program itself is just outstanding, extremely organized, well thought out and very well executed. And the kids, oh man, the kids have had a ball! I think the kids are even surprised by how much they learn via the activities.”
Further, the program was so well received that the YMCA has invited us to continue the discussion on how they can maintain a partnership with Edge to hopefully host the program at other locations. We believe this will provide a perfect opportunity to mentor talented young people and allow us to continue to host financial literacy sessions on a long-term basis.
“The future of our country and the planet is in the hands of today’s youth. What we put in those hands and minds will determine the future state. Edge is passionate about bettering our communities via active participation and charitable donations.” said Paul Robertson, Partner, Senior Financial Advisor.
We want to say a huge thank you to our Community Engagement Team for their hard work and commitment to our larger corporate initiative of making a difference in underserved communities. We look forward to sharing more updates in the future.
