Jay-Z is breathing life into the curriculum of historically Black colleges and universities in a major way.
The Shawn Carter Foundation announced the launch of its Champions for Financial Legacy program Wednesday at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The financial education initiative will empower students at HBCUs and the surrounding communities by providing tools for managing personal finances in the real world.
The program will help improve students’ financial literacy and guide them to apply their knowledge to help build wealth in their communities.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, founded the Shawn Carter Foundation in 2003 with his mother, Gloria Carter.
“Every day at the Shawn Carter Foundation, we dedicate ourselves to uplifting students and communities that are underserved,” Gloria Carter said in a statement. “To launch a financial education program that will reach more students and communities, along with dedicated partners like Toyota and the Wharton School of Business, is a vision we are finally seeing come to fruition.”
She added, “We are so excited to see the incredible impact of CFFL unfold and look forward to its growth.”
The pair’s foundation is teaming up with the Coalition for Equity and Opportunity for the financial education program with support from Toyota Motor North America.
The Shawn Carter Foundation, which is dedicated to positioning students with socio-economic hardships to further their education, has already provided scholarships to help at-risk youth and donated more than $20 million to community and scholarship programs.
The inaugural CFFL program will kick off in the spring at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, Norfolk State University in Virginia and Virginia State University before expanding to other HBCUs.
