Nikita Agrawal

For my 7th grade history project, I researched the socioeconomic impact on a Chicago community and was deeply moved by the issues of gentrification, disparity, and segregation. My research, which won a team award at the National History Day competition, created in me a desire to make a change within my community. 

I became more aware of my environment while observing my mother, a single working mom, who was struggling to be financially independent. The profound moment came when my mother asked for my input in deciding the best mortgage option to choose from to refinance our home. I used my programming skills to code out the various mortgage options, taking into account her financial needs, and created a customizable comparison. That feeling of being able to add value using my skills along with my desire to make an impact in my community, triggered in me the idea of combining financial concepts with computer programming into a powerful educational platform for students. 

This led me to launch an initiative to empower students by advancing their financial literacy and teaching them programming skills - all on a single platform at no cost. My project would give students the foundation to: 

• Build financial health and resiliency 

• Take advanced mathematics and programming courses 

• Secure their own paid high school internship 

• Explore careers in Finance and/or Technological fields 

According to Everfi, only 42% of states require high school financial education, and even fewer require elementary and middle schools to set the foundation. Due to a weak footing in middle school, students are intimidated by advanced math, economics, and computer science courses. Subsequently, this transcends into adulthood where the knowledge gap hinders financial independence, creates challenges to being technologically skilled, and impacts their confidence and career prospects. The Global Financial Literacy Survey insights showed that 3.5 billion adults globally lack an understanding of basic financial concepts. 

From closely observing my mom’s struggles to be financially independent, I realized that addressing financial literacy early on in schools is absolutely necessary. Furthermore, financial health cannot be separated from technological advancements. Today, even small scale financial institutions do business digitally on websites and mobile apps. However, access to financial institutions is hindered if one is not technologically savvy. 

In addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that computer and information technology jobs will grow 15% between 2021 and 2031 and face shortages of skilled workers. FinPro World has a unique program of advancing both financial literacy and technical skills early on, thus positioning students for finance and technology fields. 

I formed FPW to educate middle and high school students on financial concepts, while teaching them to be technically savvy at the same time. I am leading the FPW team to achieve this mission in 3 ways: 

Financial Literacy: Team of 8 instructors teach multiple FPW series with around 20 students in a series. Each series comprises 10 weeks of 1 hour weekly sessions, covering a variety of finance related topics ranging from simple & compound interest to insurance and payment methods. 

Technically Savvy: During the first half of each session, after a Finance instructor explains the financial concepts, a Programming instructor teaches students computer programming wherein the students write code to apply and demonstrate the financial concepts they’ve learnt. 

Single Platform: The understanding of financial concepts is strengthened when students actively see the relationship between each of the financial terms. For example, after simple & compound interest is explained, students use Python to create a function to output the simple & compound interest amount for a given principal, rate, and time. Students are taught to comprehend the changing values by coding and outputting graphs to see how interest amounts change over time. 

Per surveys, students retain the financial concepts better through this programmatic learning style, having a profound impact on their knowledge and confidence. 

FPW, with its growing volunteer team, is setup for success under the 3 tracks: 

Potential to Scale: FPW operates on large scale networks as in 

1. Schoolhouse.world (SHW), a learning platform with 21K+ learners across 100+ countries founded by Sal Khan of Khan Academy 

2. Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the 4th largest school district in the nation with 635 schools 

I am discussing further growth of FPW with Drew Bent, COO of SHW, and Dustin Voss, Financial Education Specialist at CPS. 

Inspiring Changemakers: FPW is soon to become a Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) Certifying Organization. Changemakers will be motivated to make an impact in FPW while striving for the PVSA national award. Enlisting 40 additional team members, through community reachout and social media promotions, will help scale FPW’s mission worldwide. 

Sponsorships/Partnerships: FPW is garnering sponsorship from FinTech companies to sustain the program long-term and cover costs of promotion, administration and computer devices for students in need. FPW hopes to raise $10,000 in the next 6 months in order to scale per the goals listed below. Additionally, FPW is forming partnerships with multiple organizations. 

By Q3 2023, FPW is well positioned to meet its upcoming goals to: 

3. Expand globally to 15 additional countries 

4. Expand nationally to 30 additional schools 

5. Expand regionally to 5 more states 

Empowering Others: FPW has impacted 110+ students across 15 countries. For example, students from Ghana, Angola, and Indonesia with no prior experience, persevered and their confidence & self reliance increased. One student said, “Merging coding and finance is an awesome way to boost our learning and your explanations were super clear so thank you!" 

In Schools: Partnering with CPS, FPW hosts sessions for students in underserved communities from 30+ schools. Several students initially unaware of financial literacy and computer programming, now feel more prepared as shown through FPW surveys and testimonials. 

Organizational Influence: Chicago Teen Mentors (a free learning platform) has enriched its curriculum to include Finance and Programming after collaborating with FPW. Kiddo Byte is looking to do the same for Ukrainian students. The Chicago City Treasurer recently spotlighted FPW, influencing thousands of followers. 

Coaching Champions: Through our train-the-trainer model, we coach instructors by teaching them in a FPW series who then go on to lead a new FPW series. This model helps us grow our team of changemakers while encouraging them to form Chapters in their school communities. I started the Whitney Young chapter, and this inspired others to start 2 more. We are continuously tapping into FPW’s 100+ insta followers and using news media channels to recruit changemakers.