It's always cool to see athletes using their money and fame to promote good causes. And a handful of NBA players are teaming up with the mobile banking app Goalsetter to help minorities learn how to save money.
As part of Black History Month, the company is aiming to start savings accounts for one million Black and Brown children. Athletes will each "draft" (or select) 100 kids and deposit $40 in savings accounts set up by Goalsetter. NBA players like Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes are joining in to help support the cause, as are WNBA, MLB, and NHL players.
Paul is drafting kids from the 61 Leadership Alliance in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And Barnes went above and beyond – he drafted 500 kids from Build Black in Sacramento and TL Marsalis Elementary in Dallas.
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Barnes tweeted that kids with savings accounts are six times more likely to go to college. If Goalsetter reaches the goal of one million savings accounts, they'll have contributed $40 million to college funds.
In a statement, Paul expressed the importance of having financial literacy and education:
"Black History Month is a reminder of the hundreds of years that Black people have been a labor force and a consumer class in America. This partnership is about learning from our history to create a strong future that prepares the next generation of Black and Brown kids to be savers and investors. Financial education is a necessary and critical component of creating an equal America."
The campaign is dedicated to the 1865 "40 acres and a mule resolution" – promising newly freed slaves land. Andrew Johnson, who was President at the time, overturned the order.
The deposits are FDIC insured and can go on the Mastercard-backed Cashola debit card. And hopefully, this will set plenty of kids up for financial success.
