When Marcy Reyes inquired about money as a young child, she was told it was none of her business. 

The silence led Reyes to many financial mistakes, including overspending, a disregard for savings and credit card debt. It also led her to a career in finance and a mission to educate youth in communities in the most need about the importance of fiscal responsibility. 

Understanding the challenges youth in communities in the most need face, in 2017 Reyes founded The Financial Literacy Youth (FLY) Initiative, a non-profit organization that provides culturally responsive financial literacy programming to students living in communities in the most need.

The overall mission is to empower these youth with knowledge, skills, and experiences to end generational poverty. 

“By providing students with the knowledge and skills to manage financial resources effectively, we are giving them the opportunity of a lifetime of financial well-being to end generational poverty,” said Reyes.

FLY arms students with the tools they need to learn how to become financially responsible. The program’s unique 10-module curriculum includes personal finance, savings, budgeting, managing money, paying for college, investing, setting financial goals and more. By developing financial knowledge skills that will empower youth to become self-sufficient, make good choices and lead to financial wellness and stability – the key to ending generational poverty.

“Your class is a class that all schools need,” said a student who completed the FLY Initiative in January 2021. “These are true life lessons that will help bridge the game of opportunity divide.”

With support from the Papitto Opportunity Connection, FLY has been able to expand its programming and support the hiring, training, and accreditation of its educators.