YOUTH TESTIMONIALS
Hey, my name is Stanley. I’m a youth leader from New ERA, a program partnered with Mission SF. New ERA is a program where youth are chosen to learn about the struggles of financial stability and the reasons of how people get into debt. We use what we learn to make presentations to teach other youth in our communities about services like payday lenders and why they should stay away from them. We want to educate youth so when they grow up and have careers, they’ll know what services and financial institutions to use. The reason I’m trying to teach and lead youth in our community is because, I feel especially being a youth, that I know the struggles of many families that are in debt or struggling with bills and have children that have to go through that struggle of not having a decent living situation or clothing. Not having money for the things you need creates stress, and it is especially hard for teens because we need supplies for school and we are beginning to live our own lives. I know for a fact that most of the communities in SF need this financial education, otherwise they won’t know where to go to save money or how to make their money grow. I strive to let youth know they have the right for economic justice and should learn good habits of saving and investing for the future.
Stanley
Alejandro
What’s up, my name is Alejandro, I’m from Mission SF/New ERA, and what we do is bring awareness to local communities about the dangers of payday lenders. I care about this issue because payday lenders can be really bad, and can lead people into debt. If your family was going into debt because they use payday lenders, wouldn’t you want to do something? That’s why I’m spreading the word. We are doing a few things in our campaign like giving workshops and making a petition for the DCYF youth that receive stipends to have savings accounts so they won’t use fringe services, learn healthy financial habits, and save their money. I’m here with new era because I want to spread the word and I really want to stop people from throwing away their money by using fringe services.
Hello my name is Santiago Martinez Xonthe from Mission SF/ New Era we are working to bring awareness to the communities of San Francisco about financial education and we want to promote financial security and economic mobility. We achieve these goals by giving financial counseling to adults and transitional-age youth. We also give financial education presentations to adults, teenagers, and kids. Why do I love doing this? First of all I grew up in the Mission district which has 24 of the 56 payday lenders there are in San Francisco. In this area you see people of color and low and income that are being targeted by payday lenders. Everyday teenagers are affected by these fringe services, and are getting a step further from the American dream. The economic divisions that exist in America today are a result of the fringe services who target people of color and people who aren't really educated about money management and fringe services. In my opinion everyone should have a dream and have the opportunity to achieve their goals in life. We look like a small group but we have a big dream.
Santiago
My name is Ricky and I'm part of Mission SF's New ERA. Mission SF is a non-profit organization that works to educate kids, teens, and adults financially and offers free financial counseling. We (New ERA) advocate for the use of mainstream institutions like banks and Credit Unions as opposed to Payday Lenders and Check Cashers. The first reason I decided to work at Mission SF was because I needed something to do with my spare time. However, after going through the summer training, I began to realize how big of a problem fringe services really were and how badly they were affecting the community that I grew up in. I had no idea that people were getting ripped off in specific areas of the city and that these people could easily be family members of mine or friends. I decided to put more effort and try to come up with ideas along with my fellow youth leaders so we could put a stop to this injustice or at least slow it down so less people would be affected by their malevolent schemes.
Ricky
My name is Kyle Isidro, the reason im personally participating in this program/campaign is because i know how important fincancial education is nowadays, but whats crazy is that not a lot of people especially youth know a lot about financial education and are being affected because they end up using predatory services that lead them into debt and prevent them from being succesful in the future. Predatory services, eapecially payday lenders and check cashers affected my family because they almost rely on these services to get cash just enough to get by, and it hurts me to see them struggle and on top of that being taken advantage of for the profit of selfish corporation
Kyle
