FSIC American Innovation & Opportunity Fund | 1403 K St SE Washington, DC 20003 | fsiccdfi.org

Synopsis of FSIC AIOF Pre-Apprenticeship Pilot Program

FSIC in conjunction with its CDFI American Innovation and Opportunity Fund have created an Apprenticeship support program to create greater access to companies in industries with unfilled high wage skilled positions.

Missed Opportunities! Young people are missing opportunities to participate in apprenticeship and training programs. These potential applicants are willing to work but are challenged by:

• Knowledge of existing apprenticeship and training programs

• Assistance in navigating the application process for apprenticeship and training programs

• Travel options especially to the training. Individuals in small communities with little or no public transit, and few opportunities to earn wages to buy a car.

• Community support structure

The AIOF Solution The AIO Fund supports young people who seek to participate in an apprenticeship or training program by providing incidental monetary support, ranging from paying for cell phones to helping secure transportation. The Fund will also help cover expenses related to CDL Training, quick start Lineman Training Program (our weekend and two-week training courses), and tuition through loans and scholarships. The fund also provides financial literacy training and other life skills to prepare the students for a successful life on their own. Upon completing an apprenticeship or training program, many of these students will be making $100,000 a year or more.

The Financial Services Innovation Coalition | Washington, DC | fsicoalition.org

Partnerships Build Success Government and industry partnerships help identify and support young people who are interested in apprenticeship or training programs for high wage skilled jobs in industries with a large number of job openings. These partnerships are critical to locating and enticing young people to pursue an apprenticeship or training program. We are actively seeking to expand our partnerships with industry, government, nonprofit, and community organizations.

Weekend and Two-Week Training Programs We have developed a partnership with veteran utility lineman workers to establish and conduct weekend and two-week training programs in different communities. The professional veteran utility lineman workers will volunteer their time and equipment and act as instructors. We need partners, churches, or community groups who are willing to provide a location where we can conduct classes and install two utility poles for use during the training.

The Real Benefit If even half of the applicants in the AIO Fund’s program complete the certification and hiring process it will add over an estimated $1 million in new wealth to their community in the few several years. In additions, graduates will become ambassadors and advocates to family and friends to pursue apprenticeship and training programs, creating the next generation of successful candidates in their community. This is a proven way to help communities rebuild in a sustainable and meaningful manner.

“Mr. Kimble, I was just letting you know I appreciate all you have done and this scholarship has really been a

blessing in my life so again thank you!” ~Te’Keyah Arrington First Pre-Apprenticeship scholarship recipient

Blacks and Latinos Will Be Broke in a Few

Decades

The racial wealth gap is getting worse.

By Josh Hoxie

Sep 19th, 2017 3:18 pm ET

Fortune

Many people see progress on racial equity in the U.S. as a steady march forward, in which

people of color become more equal with their white counterparts as the years go by.

Those are people who don’t pay attention to household wealth figures.

A new report I co-authored, “The Road to Zero Wealth,” looks at the past 30 years of wealth

accumulation across racial lines, as well as what the future will bring if current trends continue.

Our findings were bleak.

The divide between the wealth of a typical black family and a typical white family today is vast.

A median black family has just $1,700 in wealth—total assets minus total debt. Thirty years ago,

that same family had $6,800 in today’s dollars. Latino families at the median have similarly

small assets, just $2,000, and also saw a decline over the past three decades.

White median household wealth, meanwhile, is significantly higher: $116,800, up from $102,000

over the same period.

So black and Latino families at the middle have seen their wealth slip while white families in the

middle saw their wealth rise. What does this look like projected into the future?

By 2053, just 10 years after the country is projected to become majority non-white, black median

families will own zero wealth if current trends continue. Twenty years later, Latino median

families will follow suit. White median families will continue to own six figures.

Even those black and Latino families who’ve achieved the traditional markers of middle class

life—a good-paying job and a college degree—still lag far behind their white counterparts in

terms of wealth. Black and Latino families with a member holding a four-year degree own just a

fifth of the wealth of equivalent white families. In fact, they own less wealth than a white family

whose head has just a high school diploma.

These numbers represent a troubling trend in which assets and economic opportunities are

channeled away from families of color and toward white families.

The enduring legacy of slavery and the Jim Crow era contribute to this growing divide. For

instance, just 2% of the heavily subsidized mortgages made available by the Federal Housing

Administration in the 30 years following the Great Depression went to non-white households.

Homes are the biggest asset most middle-class families own, so this sort of federally sanctioned

discrimination created a huge, intergenerational disadvantage for the black and Latino families

left out.

Modern public policy decisions rooted in expanding inequality also play a significant role. One

such policy is America’s complex system of tax expenditures—essentially discounts handed out

to certain groups and individuals that together total more than a half a trillion dollars in public

spending each year.

One example is the mortgage interest deduction, a tax break designed to promote

homeownership. Unfortunately, the deduction is only available to those who itemize their tax

returns, which skews the beneficiaries heavily toward the already wealthy—who are

disproportionally white.

Changing our priorities around tax incentives, as well as investments in bold new programs like

Children’s Savings Accounts (CSA) and a federal jobs guarantee, could reverse the decades-long

rise in the racial wealth divide. Had Congress instituted a robust universal CSA program in

1979—seeding small savings and investment accounts for all children that could mature as they

grew older—the white-Latino wealth gap would have disappeared by now and the white-black

gap would have dropped by 82%.

Policy changes like these would require bold leadership from across the federal government,

including Congress and the White House. In today’s political atmosphere, marked most often by

scandal and regressive policy decrees as well as congressional gridlock, this does not appear

forthcoming.

The good news, however, is that the policies needed to begin to turn the tide on our growing

divide are readily at hand. We know what the problem is and how to fix it. Building the political

will, and political power, to put such policies in play is the next step.

Josh Hoxie is director of the Project on Opportunity and Taxation at the Institute for Policy

Studies and co-editor of Inequality.org.

AUGUST 26, 2017 “CREATING HEALTHY AND WEALTHY COMMUNITIES”

Helping Community Leaders and Businesses Create Wealth

Through Innovative Economy Opportunities

Please join us to discuss how to create long lasting community wealth by bringing new and innovative economic opportunities to rural communities

TOPICS: What is working in other communities like mine? • Lindsey Evans, CEO – Soymet Energy – Creating Revenue Streams from Green Energy

• Kevin Kimble, Esq., Founder & Executive Director - American Innovation & Opportunity Fund – How to Access Federal Funds for Local Projects

• Derrick Hollie, President – Reaching America – Addressing Energy Poverty Policy

• Craig Colwell, VP of Marketing & Development - SafeInHome - Innovations in Community Healthcare for Entrepreneurs

• Vanessa Montgomery, Entrepreneur – Entrepreneurs: Non-Traditional Ways to Generate Revenue

• Joe Dudley, CEO – Dudley Direct - Accessing Small Business Funding for New and Existing Entrepreneurs

• Josie Umoh, CEO – Apex Engineering Solutions – Engineering Opportunities for Municipalities and Entrepreneurs

Saturday, August 26th 9:30-12:00 pm Meet the Experts Luncheon 12:00 pm-2:00 pm

Inborden Elementary School 13587 NC-481 Enfield, NC Lunch provided by: Halifax County Economic Development Commission

For more information or RSVP email: charlesmccollumc@aol.com

Host: Roanoke Rapids SCLC – Reverend McCollum

Sponsored By:

REGISTRATION FORM

“CREATING HEALTHY AND WEALTHY COMMUNITIES” Helping Community Leaders and Businesses Create Wealth Through Innovative Economy

Opportunities

NAME:

TITLE:

ORGANIZATION:

ADDRESS:

EMAIL:

PHONE #:

We look forward to seeing you there!

Host: Roanoke Rapids SCLC – Reverend McCollum Sponsored By:

Agenda Creating Healthy & Wealthy

Communities

August 26, 2017

Inborden Elementary School

13587 NC-481 Enfield, NC

9:30 am-12:00 pm

Reception 12-2:00 pm

9:00 am – 9:30 am Check-In

9:30 am – 9:45 am Introduction & Invocation

Leroy Jones, Jr. |National Radio Show Host

Reverend Dr. Charles McCollum, Sr. | President, Roanoke Valley SCLC

9:45 am – 10:45 pm Panel Discussion with Q&A

“Building & Financing a Development Plan”

Donnetta Wells | Vice President, RSI Group, LLC

Josie Umoh | CEO, Apex Engineering Solutions

Joe Dudley | President, Dudley Direct, Inc.

Sean-David Bos | Marketing Manager, OppsLoans

Kevin B. Kimble, Esq. |Founder & Executive Director, Financial Services

Innovation Coalition

10:45 am – 11:00 am Break

11:00 am – 12:00 pm Panel Discussion with Q&A

“The New Energy Economy and What It Means to Communities”

Derrick Hollie | President, Reaching America

James Mills | Former Mayor, Scotland Neck, NC

William Baker | CEO, Vertical Horizons Enterprises, LLC

Lindsey Evans | CEO, Soymet Energy

12:00 pm – 2:00 pm Meet the Experts/Hosted Reception

Opening Remarks by:

Reverend Dr. Charles McCollum, Sr. | President, Roanoke Valley SCLC

Sponsored By:

Host: Roanoke

Valley SCLC –

Reverend McCollum

More than 40 percent of adults struggle to pay bills, CFPB finds

By Lorraine Woellert Politico

09/26/2017 03:38 PM EDT

Forty-three percent of U.S. adults are struggling to make ends meet, according to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau study released today.

Nearly one in four have savings of less than $250. Eighteen percent don't have a checking or savings account, the bureau found. Among those respondents supporting children, 39 percent support children 18 or older.

The report is the CFPB's first national effort to measure financial well-being. The bureau surveyed more than 6,000 consumers, assigning each a score of zero to 100, with higher numbers indicating greater wherewithal to pay bills, control finances and withstand a financial shock. The average score was 54, with a 35-point spread between the top 10 percent and bottom 10 percent of scores.

The bureau also released an online tool consumers can use to measure their own financial well-being and "take better control of their financial futures," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement.

Financial well-being scores varied widely at all income levels, the report found. A well-funded savings account made the biggest difference in financial well-being. Financial literacy also correlated with higher scores.

The bureau also released data containing financial well-being scores and other characteristics for more than 6,000 U.S. adults.

The main survey was conducted between Oct. 27 and Dec. 5, 2016.

WHAT'S NEXT: The bureau published its tools and data and is urging further research.

To view online: https://www.politicopro.com/financial-services/whiteboard/2017/09/more-than-40-percent-of-adults-struggle-to-pay-bills-cfpb-finds-093489

Roanoke Valley (NC)

SClC Southern Christian Leadership Conference

P. O. Box 463------Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870

Dr. Charles E. McCollum, Sr., President _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

October 2, 2017

Dear Mr. Kevin Kimble, Esq.

Thank you for all you have done and continue to do to advance the cause of RV/SCLC and the

disenfranchised citizens of Halifax County, North Carolina. As you are aware, we have been on

the forefront advocating for social and economic justice for poor ‘forgotten’ communities in the

Roanoke Valley like Halifax, Enfield, and other poor communities since our founding.

I like to thank you for bringing two powerful economic summits ever to come to the Roanoke

Valley North Carolina in recent years. The first, “Opportunity and Achievement Through

Innovation,” was held Friday, January 20th - Saturday, January 21st. 2017, where more than 150

middle and high school students, area principals, teachers, Halifax County schools superintendent,

area business leaders, and many others were in attendance. You’ll be happy to know that the

students who were awarded lineman school scholarships from Pike Energy are attending the

training program and are expected to graduate December 2017.

The second summit, “Creating Healthy And Wealthy Communities: Helping Community Leaders

Create Wealth Through Innovative Economic Opportunities;” was held at Inborden Elementary

School, Enfield, NC, Saturday, August 26th, 9:30 am. – 2:00p.m., was also a huge success.

The overarching theme for both summits “Using Technology to bring Education and Training

opportunities to rural communities” has made a tremendous impact on us all, especially our

community leaders, elected officials, county commissioners, and, yes, the mayor of Enfield! We

were truly empowered, inspired, and are ready to move to the next level of doing what it takes to

empower the underserved and underprivileged citizens in the Roanoke Valley Halifax region.

Again, I say thank you for your steadfast commitment and passion to push for the betterment of

humanity and our world.

Sincerely,

Dr. Charles E. McCollum, Sr.

Dr. Charles E. McCollum, Sr.

President & Co-founder RV/SCLC

(We’ve Come Too Far To Turn Back Now: The Voting Rights Act-Then and Now)