Week 2 Recap: Community Workshops, Fundraising Success, and a tour of Brown University!

Our interns have been working hard! Week 2 had many achievements such as a major fundraising success, community workshops, and exciting travel. 

Here’s a deep dive into what we accomplished this past week. 

Community Workshops

Teaching financial literacy is a core part of our mission, and we wanted to introduce our interns to that. 

Rye and Daniel partnered with City Councilor Henry Santana’s youth program and delivered an interactive budgeting workshop. Students improved their money management abilities by breaking down their paycheck for their month into their needs, wants, and savings. 

Over 50% of the participants reported being either Black / African American or Mixed Race.

After the workshop, participants rated their understanding of a budget 4.7 out of 5.

Rebecca, Daniel, and Rye also partnered with the Copley branch of the Boston Public Library to lead another budgeting workshop. Participants broke into groups and simulated budgeting a high school teacher's paycheck, discussing which expenses to cut and which to keep. They then used their savings as startup capital for a business. One group created and sold financial literacy courses, while another built a business selling merch for upcoming concerts.

1200$ Raised with Successful Fundraising

Our interns and volunteers ran a very successful fundraiser at Roche Bros, bringing in over $1,200! Our interns Kaden, Tavisha, and Elamin (joined with executive team member Saniyah) handed out flyers, cookies, and brownies to shoppers to raise awareness and bring in donations. But the interns aren't done yet; they are continuing the momentum by building a list of local grants and upcoming pitch competitions. 

Watch Party Prep and Unexpected Challenges

The Watch Party team (Caroline, Catherine, and Rye) organized a partnership with JP Licks for a community World Cup Watch Party, making promotional content, and securing free t-shirts for attendees. But an unexpected challenge came up when on the original date planned it rained heavily. They didn't let their hard work go to waste though. Instead, they showed adaptability by coordinating a free T-shirt giveaway on the day of the finals and handing out financial literacy resources, making sure the community still felt the event's spirit.

Campus Tour: Brown University

To expose our interns to higher education opportunities, the team traveled to Providence, Rhode Island, for a tour of Brown University. The team toured the campus learning about life on campus, the research opportunities, the iconic open curriculum, and the extracurriculars at Brown. This helped our interns gain valuable insight into Ivy League college education and learn what was possible. 

Behind the Scenes

Behind the scenes, the media team (Caroline, Kaden, Luke, and Geisy) was hard at work creating a content calendar for our socials. They posted 15 posts on our various socials (Instagram, Tiktok, and LinkedIn to keep our community engaged and updated on Fortune Avenue. 

Building a team such as this takes creativity and hard work. We are very proud of the great progress made in Week 2 and we cannot wait what Week 3 will have in store.