Anna Leer
Anna is the Senior Vice President of Programs at Young Americans Center, which has been involved with the Mission’s Youth Center since summer of 2024.
How do Young Americans’ values align with Denver Rescue Mission’s values?
We come together in our unifying mission of providing financial education to kids, no matter their background or circumstances. A big component of that is saying, “We get it. A lot of these financial structures are set up in such a way that maybe you don’t feel like they were set up for you, but let’s teach you about them so you can benefit from them just like anybody else.”
What are some of the things that you teach our youth?
Our YouthBiz curriculum, which is our entrepreneurship curriculum, teaches students how to come up with a business idea, how to do the research and how to figure out how much it’s going to cost. Then we host bank sessions and talk about how you can get bank accounts started. For many groups, we provide the initial deposit funds to make it accessible to start utilizing those financial tools in real time.
How does this partnership aid us in the effort to prevent homelessness?
It’s working with kids where they are with respect and dignity and providing them with the exact same tools and information that we provide any other young person. It’s important to let kids understand how they can make their money work for them, how they can generate passive income through interest and the safety of banking, which helps kids see a future that’s different and creates self-efficacy.
This post is part of March’s Changing Lives Newsletter. This month, we’re sharing how we work to help individuals maintain housing and prevent homelessness in: Can We Stop Homelessness Before It Starts?
