Real rap; introducing Pockets Change, educating youth on financial resilience through hip-hop

BY JANIECE CAMPBELL

Financial literacy is low among many adults, especially within the Black community. According to the Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, the average American White family had over eight times the wealth of the average Black family. Closing the disparities within the racial wealth gap is a very complex issue with no one-size-fits-all solution, but there’s one organization that stands out in their goals of educating the next generation on financial resilience.

Pockets Change takes pride in helping individuals build an effective relationship with money, as they believe that financial education is more than just numbers, but a means for self-care and social justice. They do so through an interactive learning environment using hip-hop, an unlikely but efficient way to process information.

“We all learn differently. The ways that we learn are important, and it’s important for us to help students find the place where they learn how they learn. Because once you learn how to learn, you can learn anything. The elements of hip-hop are all those different modes of learning. The expression, the dancing, the deejaying, the graffiti. Those are all ways that we learn as well,” says Brian Kushner, prominently known as ‘Dyalekt’, the Director of Pedagogy at Pockets Change.

Though he brings over 20 years of experience in the New York City theatre and hip-hop scenes, Dyalekt has been a key part of Pockets Change for about seven years now. The organization, founded by his wife Pamela Capalad and Andrea Ferrero, has provided education to K-12 students across the nation and outside of it as well, particularly in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, where Dyalekt hails from. They have rewritten programs for financial institutions, schools, and even wrote the national financial literacy curriculum for the country of Uganda.

“We learn a lot about how personal finance is a revolutionary act but it doesn’t sound like it because the stuff that we’re teaching about is banks, insurance and the stock market… these are all terrible institutions that hate us and want to exploit us. The thing that I found is that there’s no real way to escape the things that they’re doing, so if we’re being exploited by it, I should at least get a piece of it. To get a piece of it is making sure that I have my head above water through getting my credit score together, ensuring that I have some savings in my account, and that I have some property. Then, I’m less likely to be taken out of the game. It’s important for us to make sure that folks can get that financial foundation so that they can make the decisions they want to make in life for themselves and their community.”

He continues.

“That’s the connection between the revolutionary mindset and getting your personal finances together that we find important at Pocket Change. How we translate that to the youth is that we give them the information about the institutions, here is why it’s harmful, here is why you would need to use it anyway, now tell me how you feel about that and what you want to do about it.”

In partnership with Spondulics, Pockets Change is producing Hip-Hop FinFest Vol 2, a live virtual concert taking place on July 16^th, 2022. The concert is inviting middle and high school students to explore provided lessons on building financial skills, then furthermore apply that knowledge to write, perform and submit an original song. The theme for the show is “Wants Are Needs Too,” a commentary on people condemning others for purchasing non-essential things such as the newest shoes, games or whatever makes them content when in reality, desires can equally be a necessity.

“It’s talking about the way that we save and spend money. Everybody always tells you to only spend money on your needs. Not only is that not practical, but it’s not something you’re going to do. It’s important for us to know that our wants are needs too. It’s important for us to spend money on the things that matter to us as long as we have a plan and a budget for the things we buy.”

Alongside U.S. residents, The Hip-Hop Fin Fest competition will be open to residents of Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands for the very first time. Contestants must be 12-18 years old to participate. The top three song submissions will win an abundance of prizes including cash, a Studio in a Backpack equipment set to encourage making music and future creative projects, as well as six months of financial mentorship from Pockets Change.

All submissions are due by May 31^st, 2022. In order to qualify, contestants must use content from the free financial literacy lessons provided, and songs must include a minimum of 16 bars along with a chorus. A full list of rules and regulations is available at http://www.hiphopfinfest.com.