Selma Youth Celebrate New Money Skills after Completing Build Up

We successfully launched our pilot for Build Up, a new financial education program, at Selma High School. On January 21, the school held a ceremony for 111 9th through 12th graders, marking the completion of the course by the first cohort of students and celebrating winners of the stock simulation component.

The three-week program, a part of our Building Wealth impact area covers banking, budgeting, credit and loans, the racial wealth gap, and investment basics. Our goal is to strengthen long-term financial stability and lay the groundwork for generational wealth in Selma, a city long denied investment and trapped in economic challenges, from a high poverty rate, 41% to a low 46% homeownership rate.

“Selma has spent decades working to regain its economic footing. But we know that the path forward begins with investing in our people,” said Carey Fountain, Director of Programs at Foot Soldiers Park. “Our goal with this program is to build financial knowledge, healthy habits and access to support so students can grow into adults who make informed decisions about earning, saving and investment. Ultimately, we’re preparing the next generation to build generational wealth, achieve economic stability, and fuel Selma’s long-term prosperity.”

Empowering youth with financial knowledge has proven long-term benefits for individuals as well as communities. Research links higher financial literacy to greater wealth accumulation, higher rates of saving and investing, and more effective retirement planning. Evidence also suggests that students’ financial education can positively influence their parents, potentially breaking cycles within families.

The Alabama legislature recently passed HB164 requiring high school seniors to complete a one-semester course on financial literacy and money management. Build Up expands upon the state curriculum with additional instruction blending lectures, simulations, discussions, and hands-on activities exploring mortgages, credit, and stocks and savings strategies. Build Up also brings in financial literacy professionals and provides teacher training, easing the burden on educators who may not have deep financial expertise and creating a sustainable system to ensure every student receives high-quality financial instruction, regardless of a school’s prior resources.

One hundred and eleven Selma High School students completed the pilot designed by Fountain and Joshua Pierce, Professor of Finance and Associate Head of the Economics, Finance and Legal Studies at the University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Business.

“The program is definitely important right now,” said Selma High Principal Stoney Pritchett. “A lot of these college students will walk into college, and the first thing they do is get a major credit card, and they’re in debt, and some go to college in debt because they’re taking out loans. [This program] is preparing the students and making them aware of what they need to do or how they need to invest or pay attention to their spending.”

As part of the stock simulation component of the course, student teams are provided a real-life $50 investment opportunity. 9th grader Chandler Wesley received a $250 cash prize for winning first place in sound investment reasoning and performance. Ninth grader Zariah Williams won $175 with second place and 11th grader Gavin Perry won $75 with third place.

Foot Soldiers Park plans to refine the Build Up program based on lessons from the pilot and to open it to all high school grades, with future expansion into other high schools as well as elementary schools. Later this year, the organization will also launch a program targeting adults.