CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Kihirha Coleman is grateful for what her family has given her: support, love, attention.
But she also knows her family, like many in Camden, probably won't be able to pass on much of a monetary or material legacy.
"I think about the generational thing," the Big Picture Learning Academy senior said. "No one owns anything, so they can't leave us anything."
She's hoping to change that, though, and she's learning about ways to build wealth in the Young Moguls Club at Big Picture Learning Academy.
"I want to have a business, so I have something I can pass on to my kids," she said.
The Young Moguls Club is the brainchild of Rashaan Hornsby, a music producer, father and entrepreneur who founded the Education Over Everything Foundation as a way to empower young people by training them in finance, entrepreneurship, business and ways to create wealth — not the kind that translates into lavish lifestyles and conspicuous consumption, but instead the kind that builds a family, a community and a city up, one generation at a time.
"I teach the kids that college is cool, but it's not for everyone," said Hornsby. "In a city like Camden with so many people unemployed, we need people who can create jobs."
Students at Big Picture, Camden High School, Mastery High School, Creative Arts Morgan Village, Veterans Memorial Family School and HB Wilson Family School have joined the Young Moguls, taking a weekly class period to learn, collaborate and play games aimed at teaching them about money, how to make it, how to spend it wisely and how to save it.
"I really love and appreciate the fact that this is exposing students to opportunities they wouldn't see otherwise," said Tim Jenkins, principal at Big Picture, formerly MetEast High School, a Camden magnet school that...
