Black Corner Students Study For Financial Freedom

Fifteen-year-old Queenie Nkrumah penned a letter to her future self five years from now detailing her goals to buy a home for her mother, become a real estate agent, and work toward making $1 million by age 21. 

Nkrumah is one of the young students in an economic-empowerment-focused summer program on Edgewood Avenue.

Despite it being summer break, class was in session at the Black Corner store at 277 Edgewood Ave. Thursday afternoon.

The class is called the S.T.R.E.E.T (Strive to Reach, Educate and Elevate Them) Credit and Enrichment Program and it’s run by two New Haven natives who wish they had learned more about life skills like finances and homeownership in their youth, rather than after letting too many opportunities pass them by as adults.

Minutes before the start of the weekly class, which has been brought to the Dwight store by 3 Queens Academy founders Johanna Davis and Caleaha Frazier, students rode bicycles around the neighborhood right up until 5 p.m.

They then wheeled their bikes into the store and parked them in a corner, each grabbing a cold beverage from the store’s fridges, which were complimentary for those attending the class. They then took seats in one of two booths situated at the front seating area.

The S.T.R.E.E.T. program at the Dwight corner store is it’s second six-week program this year. 3 Queens Academy otherwise operates out of Elephant in the Room (EIR) boxing gym.

“We want to empower, educate, and inspire,” Davis said on Thursday.

Black Corner store shop owner Kenia Massey said the students who join the Thursday classes this summer are regulars at her store and have established it as their hangout spot. 

“Since they’re already here and have nothing to do, I thought we should implement programs to give them something positive to do,” she said. 

This past Thursday, a group of 12 students joined the weekly six-week course. In previous classes students discussed and learned about tropics like entrepreneurship. 

Davis began last Thursday’s class like she does every hour-long class, by having the students read affirmations from index cards. The students, whose ages ranged from 5 to 15 years old, read aloud to each other affirmations like ​“I pause before I react” and ​“I will be great.”

The program aims to teach youth about homeownership, financial literacy, and career readiness. 

“What do you need in order to retire?” Davis asked the group. 

Students called out answers like needing to be at least 60 years old and having a pension. 

“Retirement is a dollar amount, not an age. We call it the freedom number,” Davis said. ​“You guys could retire yourselves right now if you have the money you need to provide for yourself financially.” 

As the lesson went on about financial skills, students read definitions for financial terms like annual percentage rate (APR), automated teller machine (ATM), interest rates, debt to Income ratio, savings accounts, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA), and adjustable rates. 

They discussed the definitions of the words and then were tasked with thinking about where they wanted to be and what they need to learn in order to get to that so-called ​“freedom number.”

Davis led the students through a visualization exercise where they closed their eyes and pictured what they wanted for their lives in 5 – 10 years. 

Students took that visualization task and were challenged to do a homework assignment to write a letter to their future selves in 5 – 10 years. Many of the students did it while still in class Thursday. 

Davis asked students to write about where they would be if they would graduate high school, attend college or a trade school, have a job, home, and car.

At one table, local high school students Nkrumah, Ray Pratt, Sarah Nicole, and Tati’jinah Todd placed their phones in the middle of the table to be distraction-free and began writing their letters. 

Towards the end of the class Nkrumah read her letter aloud to the group. She finished it by motivating her self that one day she’ll be selling $1 million houses as a successful real estate agent. ​“Keep doing you, girl,” she concluded. 

Hillhouse sophomore Sarah Nicole also wrote a letter to her future self celebrating owning a car, graduating high school, helping her mom, and attending college for athletic orthopedics. 

Another student shared that his goal for the next five years is to stay around the right people and chase his dream. 

Middle schooler Mikhai Brownfield detailed driving a Lamborghini in ten years with shades on while listening to the song ​“White Tee” by Summer Walker. 

After talking through the activity, the students ended the class with pepperoni and cheese pizza slices and with a ​“power hour” question period of what they learned during class. 

Students shared that they learned you can retire at any age, what ATM stands for, and one can start building your credit at 18 years old or earlier. 

Wilbur Cross junior Ray Pratt, 15, returned to the Thursday class after attending two previous sessions. 

Pratt, Nkrumah, and Sarah Nicole said the class teaches them things they don’t learn in school like ​“how to get your money up.” 

Nkrumah and Sarah Nicole said they love that they have the opportunity to learn about investing and real estate work while young because they hope to become real estate agents. 

Davis offered to introduce Nkrumah to a successful out-of-state real estate agent she knows. 

Pratt said she enjoys learning about how to handle bills and taxes. 

“It’s helping us get on top of our goals,” Nicole added. 

Nkrumah said it’s helping to lead her in the right direction. 

The organization’s first cohort was hosted at EIR for local youth who identify as the ​“KIA Boys.” The students, some of whom were on probation, were offered six months of free boxing lessons at EIR if they attended the programs weekly classes.

The goal is to equip students with life knowledge and skills in a comfortable space in a non-traditional teaching fashion, Frazier said. She noted that the lessons they teach about financial literacy and other topics are lessons she did not get while young but would have helped her greatly. 

Davis shared with the students her experience as a young adult after moving out of her parents’ house and into her first apartment. She recalled when she reached out for a loan she was offered a loan to furnish her apartment or to buy a condo. Not having the knowledge of being a homeowner, Davis took out a loan to furnish her apartment instead of owning a property. 

The goal is to help New Haven youth get better jobs and make good financial choices, the duo said. 3 Queens Academy is working to continue its mission in partnership with NHPS or in each neighborhood to educate local youth.