Proviso West | Mental Health Kit Giveaway

Last week we visited Proviso West High School to give away another batch of mental health kits. It was out first time here and the students came with energy! We were able to give 243 kits away to Proviso West students. Our running total is now at 918 mental health kits given away to Proviso district youth. We are almost at our semester goal of 1,000.

As the staff helped give away kits, Maya interviewed some students about their mental health stories. In honor of mental health awareness month, we will be posting each day in May. Check out our Instagram for the full interviews!

Adulting 101 | Roth IRA

For our last workshop for Adulting 101, we met with Mariel of Money for Mujeres. Mariel first led us through an introduction on investing. Specifically, what is investing and why is it different than saving. Our young adults learned the different types of investments; Stocks, Index Funds and Bonds. They learned which type would be best to start building wealth. They also learned the different types of IRA’s and which are best for your income and investing habits.

After Investing 101, the young adults opened up their accounts! We had two young adults successfuly open up their Roth IRA and started to invest. Thank you Mariel for teaching our young adults the importance of investing and helping them build their wealth!

Adulting 101 Recap

We are so excited to announce the completion of our Adulting 101 cohort! As our mentees have started to move out of high school and start their adult lives, they asked for more resources for this transition. Many are financially responsible for bills while also being in school full time. We want to start creating opportunities for youth to build this wealth so they can make a change and teach others.

We held four different workshops, two in March and two in April. Our first two workshops were held by Jasmine, our co-founder, and ED. She led our youth through a money-healing and budgeting workshop. Stephanie, our board president, led our third workshop surrounding the credit building. The last session was led by Mariel of Money for Mujeres, which introduced investing and opening up their Roth IRA accounts.

Here are some thoughts from our participants on the impact of Adulting 101:

Maya, Spring 21’ Mentee

“After Adulting 101 I can proudly say that I have saved so much money by tracking my spending habits. Additionally, I have started my Roth IRA and believe I can retire a millionaire. There is so much I have learned from just over 4 weeks and how I can apply it to the rest of my life.”

Tracy, Spring 22’ Mentee

“Adulting 101 really helped me conceptualize my future in ways I didn’t think possible. This short, but valuable workshop helped me understand the ins and outs of being a young adult and did what I feel like wonders for my success going forward.”

Thank you to our facilitators and youth for showing up with curiosity and compassion!

Adulting 101 | Credit Building

For our third session of Adulting 101, a youth financial wellness cohort, we held a credit building workshop. This was led by our very own Board President, Stephanie Gill! Not only is she our board president, Stephanie serves as Director of Financial Wellness at a local nonprofit!

First, Stephanie led our young adults through some vocabulary terms and definitions when it comes to credit. Then she went into a couple tips on what cards to get, how to build your credit, and how to keep a high score. The youth showed great interest by asking curious questions. Thank you Stephanie for leading a great workshop for us!

PMSA | Mental Health Kit Giveaway

Last week the TFD Team visited Proviso Math and Science Academy giving away mental health kits! This was our third visit to PMSA. A new batch of students received a kit at lunchtime. We heard great things about our kits from students who got one before. One impactful story was about a student who used our fidgets to help her focus in class and it helped improve her grade! These are the types of stories we love to hear and share. If you or you know a student who has gotten a kit, send us a DM on our Instagram (@thefirehousedream).

We have now given away 675 mental health kits! Thanks to our team for helping us with giveaways! Follow us on our Instagram and Facebook to see updates!