When working can’t feed families, youth have to find a new way

Editor’s note: In just two years, a financial literacy platform started by a New Jersey teenager has grown into an international movement. In this two-part story, she shares how FinEmpower grew from idea to impact, using the TrustYouth I’s as a way to highlight key moments along the way. She then closes with a reflection on trust.

I am a 16-year-old student from New Jersey and the founder of FinEmpower, a global youth-led initiative focused on expanding financial literacy, supporting small businesses and advocating for greater financial opportunity for communities around the world. My parents immigrated to the United States from India, and I grew up seeing firsthand how hard people from my community worked to build stability and opportunity. My parents’ immigrant status is a proud part of my identity, as is the “bootstrap” belief in the power of hard work.

FinEmpower is built around the idea that financial education and economic opportunity should not be limited by a person’s age, location or background.

At its core, FinEmpower is built on two ideas: Working hard isn’t always enough, and financial education and economic opportunity should be accessible to everyone.

While it’s only been two years since we started, it took significant personal and collective time investment to figure out how to move from ideas to implementation to impact.

By the Numbers
• 15+ countries, including the U.S., Ghana, India, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, Burundi and Romania, with new chapters launching in Benin and the Balkans.
• 150+ small businesses supported across North America this summer.
• 1,000+ people reached globally between May and August 2026.
• 10,000+ people projected reach by the end of 2026.

A casual interaction led me to consider structural inequity. I do a lot of community work. When volunteering at a local church event, I met a woman with whom I started chatting. I learned that she worked multiple jobs tirelessly, trying to make a living. Immediately I told her that it’ll be okay, because hard work pays off. I quickly realized it was the wrong thing to say. She told me that advice like that was stuff she didn’t believe in because the structure of our world was against people like her. Her statement really shook me. All of a sudden, I was a part of the problem. I knew I needed to find a way to be a part of the solution.

Introspection led to a desire for more input. I reached out to some of my peers and people in further stages of life than I am. I already shared ideas about passion projects and community service with a few of them, so I felt comfortable bringing up my ever-growing awareness of economic injustice. We all agreed that financial literacy and economic disparity were inequalities that were very persistent globally. I shared my early ideas of FinEmpower, describing my vision for what it could do. The reinforcement coming from the people I chatted with helped me realize that FinEmpower could be more than a passing idea.

These interactions led me to focus on reducing financial insecurity. The more I learned about financial insecurity, the more I realized the complexity of the issue. Economic stability shapes where people can live, the opportunities they can pursue, the risks they can afford to take and ultimately how they experience everyday life. The more I researched, the more I understood that financial security isn’t about just having money — it’s about having the freedom and stability to make choices about your future without fear. That’s what made this issue feel so personal and so important for me.

People who lack opportunity, who are victims of the system, are the identities I want to honor.

Investigation led to innovation. I couldn’t stop thinking about how bad things actually are for working-class people in America right now. So I researched economic policy in New Jersey and nationally. I read everything I could get my hands on about the wealth gap — who it hits hardest, why financial literacy courses so often fail to reach the people who need them most, and who else was already trying to fix it. What I found was that most personal finance education is built for people who already have a financial cushion. It assumes you have savings to budget, credit to build, an emergency fund to protect. It wasn’t built for someone deciding between rent and groceries. I wanted FinEmpower to start from the second reality, not the first.

Implementation happens through iteration. We believe closing the wealth gap starts with ensuring every community has access to three things: financial knowledge, start-up resources and opportunities to reach economic stability. Youth-led teams in each country continue to iterate on how to make this three-pronged vision tangible at the local level.

1. Financial knowledge. Our work begins with inclusive financial literacy workshops, designed to give any community member knowledge that is actually applicable to them. Our youth-led teams have all been trained on the fundamentals of financial literacy and have adapted that training to their community context. For example, our teams have hosted workshops in communities where participants are learning practical skills such as budgeting, saving and understanding how financial decisions affect their everyday lives. The goal isn’t simply to teach financial vocabulary, but to make financial knowledge something people can actually use.
2. Start-up resources. We want to support small businesses, particularly those led by first-time immigrant entrepreneurs. In North America, for example, FinEmpower has been able to help over 150 small businesses this summer by connecting them with resources, mentorship and opportunities to grow. Later this year we hope to host a small business accelerator workshop in New Jersey, where small businesses can set up booths to reach broader public audiences.
3. Policy advocacy. We work to address the systems that shape economic opportunity through advocacy campaigns for education and economic reform. In New Jersey, for example, FinEmpower is starting a campaign advocating around NJ Legislature Senate Bill 3462 and its companion bill, Assembly Bill A3123, pushing for inclusivity amendments within those respective bills that are designed to strengthen the equity and accessibility of financial education by ensuring that curricula reflect the diverse financial experiences of New Jersey students and their families, which we know from experience are so important.

Expanding internationally. What began as a student-led initiative in New Jersey in early 2025 has grown into an international organization with teams and chapters across more than 15 countries, including the United States, Ghana, India, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, Burundi, Romania, and new chapters that are launching in Benin and the Balkans region. We’ve reached more than 1,000 people globally between May and August 2026. Every one of those numbers is a person who walked into a workshop not knowing how to read a budget or price a product and walked out running their finances instead of being run by them. We are continuing to expand our programs and international network. By the end of 2026, we estimate to have helped over 10,000 people internationally.

None of this happens without trust — the kind that got FinEmpower started in the first place.

[Related: Exploring the trust gap: An open invitation]

Reflecting on TrustYouth

Many of our volunteers have been lucky enough to have people that trusted them to take risks early and often, even if they are from working-class families and communities. But the young mothers I work with often didn’t get that same head start. Nobody told them their ideas were worth funding, or that their time was worth protecting, or that they were allowed to want more than survival. The gap between us was never about who worked harder. It was about who had someone in their corner saying “go ahead” before they even asked.

I’ve felt what it’s like to have someone say that to me.

Trust creates trust.
• Getting involved and making connections. I’m lucky to be part of other organizations with complementary missions that have influenced what FinEmpower does. Through the Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), for example, I have access to mentors and opportunities that indirectly play a big role in what I do with FinEmpower. Getting involved with CCL has really expanded my interest in advocacy and showed me more ways that young people can actually get involved in issues they care about. I am immensely fortunate enough to be surrounded by great mentors and leaders including the student who introduced me to CCL.
• Leading with integrity. We believe our growth is impressive. But our success stems directly from our confidence, commitment and willingness to make new connections that I, my family, my community and the young people around the world who are responding to our invitation to take action bring to this effort.
• Inviting other young people to become leaders. The young people who are inspired to respond come from a range of backgrounds. Some are deeply involved in their schools and communities and have strong support systems around them. Others may not be considered traditional “natural leaders” in school, but they care deeply about an issue in their community and want to do something about it. When invited, they say yes. What they have in common is a willingness to start and a desire to make a difference.
• Investing in people. I’m the founder and executive director, which in practice means I run everything — programming, partnerships, people. I try to be as direct as possible with everyone in the organization so they actually feel appreciated, not just managed. FinEmpower wouldn’t be at the scale it is at right now, without the full involvement of our amazing volunteers. I want to make sure that is communicated to them through every interaction.

I expect this same insecurity exists within some of the young people who are interested in working with us. We work to acknowledge this in our recruitment efforts. Our approach to financial education makes it possible for youth experiencing financial insecurity to simultaneously inform themselves while helping others.

In many countries, youth teams are connected to existing nonprofits, schools or community organizations that provide a home base for their efforts. Those connections matter. I’ve learned that giving a young person an opportunity is important, but giving them someone who believes in them, a community to work with and the freedom to take ownership can change what they believe they are capable of doing.

[Related: People want to help youth who are brave enough to be different]

Trust has been a huge part of building FinEmpower. Especially as a young person, people aren’t automatically going to trust you just because you’re leading an organization. I’ve learned that you have to build that trust over time by doing what you say you’re going to do, listening to people, and actually giving them the opportunity to contribute. Once people feel like you trust them too, whether they are volunteering or agreeing to partner with you, I think they’re much more comfortable investing time and bringing their own ideas forward.

FinEmpower is a reflection of people who live and breathe the idea that working-class people can be uplifted if given the trust and tools needed to push first for their families and then for broader reform.

The idea that things are too far gone to change is one of the very reasons nothing changes. I hope that through FinEmpower, our chapter leaders and volunteers learn to question that idea — to recognize that “nothing can change” is often exactly what those comfortable with the status quo want people to believe. Change does not have to start with someone in power. It can start with a student, a community, a conversation or one person deciding to act.

Through FinEmpower, I want to help create some of those opportunities for others — to give young people the trust and support to see themselves as changemakers in their communities, even if they have never thought of themselves that way before.

Follow our work and get involved on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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Tanisi Sahai is founder and executive director of FinEmpower, one of the largest student-led economic empowerment initiatives, hoping to help close the global wealth gap through financial literacy workshops, small business support and policy campaigns. FinEmpower has also been featured in news forums such as the Patch.