Employees of Wells Fargo Bank, one of the country’s largest financial institutions, and the Omicron Eta Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., joined together at Maya Angelou Public Charter School in Northeast to educate a selected group of senior students on the basics of budgeting and finances on Oct. 22.
“The class we are teaching is a part of Wells Fargo’s Hands on Banking program,” said Ben-James Brown, senior vice president of financial health and philanthropy for Wells Fargo and a member of Omicron Eta Lambda. “Hands on Banking is the financial education program of Wells Fargo and serves as a resource for teachers on financial literacy. The class is also birthed out of Omicron Eta Lambda’s Alpha Finance Academy. Our chapter is placing more of a focus on financial health in the community.”
The class at Maya Angelous took place as financial literacy coursework integrates further into D.C. schools and is closer to becoming a requirement. The D.C. State Board of Education adopted financial literacy standards in March for District students covering topics such budgeting, investing and credit. Presently, schools can offer financial literacy as a stand-alone course or part of an existing class, with the course counting as a half credit toward graduation.
The class of 2029 will be the first to be required to take the course.
Budgeting 101
Talees Owens, a Wells Fargo employee, stood before 30 students sitting in their chairs in front of small tables. Owens was picked by her colleagues to make the formal presentation to the students utilizing a projector and a white screen to her left to relay key financial literacy topics.
“We have an exercise where we will go through a budget and try not to run out of money,” Owens said.
The Wells Fargo employees and the fraternity members handed out budget sheets indicating categories of spending. At the top of each sheet indicated a fictitious person’s profession, yearly salary and monthly pay.
The first category Owens said was housing and students were to choose whether they lived downtown, the suburbs or in a rural area.
“Keep in mind that if you live in a rural area, you will need to have a car, so consider that when deciding where you want to live,” she told the students. “If you live in the suburbs, you can own a car, but it may be cheaper to use public transportation to get to work. If you live downtown, you can walk or use a bike to get around.”
The students considered the financial pluses and minuses of such amenities and activities of purchasing furniture, transportation, clothing, communications (mobile, internet and cable), bank accounts, health insurance, groceries, child care, entertainment and charitable contributions.
In small groups, the students, with advising from Wells Fargo employees or fraternity members, consulted with each other to consider each category,
At the end of the 50-minute exercise, Owens asked the students who had money left over. With two exceptions, the students said they were in a deficit blurting out statements such as “don’t have kids” and “life is expensive.”
Ricquan Greenfield participated in the budgeting class and found it beneficial.
“I think it was insightful,” Greenfield, 18, said. “It showed me how the real world moves. In the next few months, we will be out in the real world, going to college or the military or getting a job and getting married. This class shows how the world operates.”