Moneythink, a University of Chicago RSO, co-founded by UChicago students Greg Nance (AB’11) and Ted Gonder (AB’12), was recently selected as one of the five winners in the “White House Champions of Change Campus Challenge”. Moneythink, initially selected as one of fifteen finalists out of over 1,400 applicants before being named a winner, was sent to the White House to meet with President Barack Obama and to be honored for their accomplishments.
Moneythink’s goal is to help teach low-income and urban city students financial literacy, such as how to manage money, start and build a bank account, and how to develop entrepreneurship skills. Most of these skills have been taught through creative lessons that rely heavily on examples from pop culture, such as imaginative scenarios dealing with Lil’ Wayne and NBA players. Founded in 2009, and three years later, Moneythink has become a Nationwide organization and student movement making a significant difference in the financial literacy of high school students in urban communities across the U.S. To date, Moneythink has chapters at 17 college campuses across the country.
While, Moneythink’s main aim has been at the empowerment of urban high school students, the college mentors themselves have also been impacted by their work with the students, improving the way they think about community service and outreach.