CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jay Sundar and Aditya Acharya are both full-time students. They are seniors at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte. But over the past year, they have stepped into a different role.
“Our goal was to provide high-quality financial literacy for free to students,” Sander said.
Acharya said her first conversations about helping the community came at the beginning of her freshman year.
“We were having lunch and talking about, 'There's something we need to do to help our community.' We're both very into finance, the stock market, money management, budgeting.” “I was interested in it,” he explained.
They said they were motivated by personal struggles as well as a lack of lessons on money and financial literacy in the school system.
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“I was really thinking, 'Why aren't they teaching me this in school?'” Acharya says.
Last year, after a lunch conversation, the friends decided to start a nonprofit organization known as Youth Finance USA.
“It really clicked,” Sander said. “It was, 'How can I help my community on the one hand and use my financial knowledge on the other hand to bring it together?' I realized that the best way to do it was to: Please help the children, especially middle school and elementary school students. ”
The nonprofit partners with local schools, Boys & Girls Clubs, the Salvation Army, and other organizations to provide an equitable financial literacy program that teaches children in grades 3 through 8 .
“We recently led a summer camp in June of 2023. The summer camp had a team of 40-45 students and they learned about the basics of budgeting, saving and investing,” Acharya he said.
But they're not the only ones trying to make a difference in Charlotte.
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“We actually hired high school students in five or six states to lead our chapter programs,” Sander said.
While these conversations are about money, Sundar and Acharya said their efforts are from the heart.
“Anyone can do anything. No matter how small or how big it is, you can create a positive impact,” Acharya said.
They say they have an experienced board of directors to help guide Youth Finance USA. They are planning to hold a summer camp again this year.
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