By: Jasmine West
A financial lesson that began inside a Black-owned Detroit bank 30 years ago is carrying a new generation of young people across state lines.
Money Matters for Youth marked Juneteenth and its 30th anniversary with a “Legacy in Motion” educational trip to Chicago, connecting Detroit youth and families with two institutions tied to Black leadership and economic progress: First Independence Bank and the newly opened Obama Presidential Center.
The journey reflects the organization’s earliest years. One of its first field trips took young participants to First Independence Bank in Detroit, where they learned how banking, saving and investing could help families build wealth.
Three decades later, participants traveled to the bank’s Chicago location, allowing them to see how a financial institution rooted in Detroit expanded its reach while continuing to serve communities that have historically faced barriers to mainstream banking.
“This trip represents much more than a bus ride to Chicago,” said Gail Perry-Mason, founder and chief visionary officer of Money Matters for Youth. “It is a legacy journey. Thirty years ago, our youth learned about financial independence at First Independence Bank in Detroit. Today, they are expanding their vision and seeing how institutions, communities, and leaders can create lasting change across generations.”
The trip came as Juneteenth observances across the country reflected on the end of slavery in the United States and the unfinished work of achieving economic freedom for Black Americans.
For the Detroit families traveling to Chicago, that history was connected to present-day conversations about saving, homeownership, entrepreneurship, public service and community investment.
Participants were expected to discuss financial literacy, wealth building, leadership, the history of Juneteenth and the importance of planning for the next generation.
The group also visited the Obama Presidential Center during its grand-opening weekend. Located on Chicago’s South Side, the center examines the presidency and public service of Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, while serving as a community campus.
The visit gave young people an opportunity to consider how leadership can shape neighborhoods, institutions and national policy. It also placed them inside a major cultural institution built on the South Side of Chicago, a predominantly Black community with deep historical and political roots.
The experience was part of Money Matters for Youth’s yearlong anniversary celebration. The Detroit nonprofit was founded in 1996 to help young people understand money before they are old enough to open their first bank account, sign a lease or apply for a loan.
Its programming combines financial education with entrepreneurship, leadership development and community engagement. The organization encourages young people to become owners, investors, business leaders and informed consumers rather than waiting until adulthood to begin learning how financial systems work.
Money Matters for Youth says it has served more than 8,500 young people and family members during its 30-year history.
Its guiding message — save, spend wisely and share — has remained consistent as young people face a financial landscape increasingly shaped by rising costs, digital banking, credit, student debt and widening racial wealth disparities.
The Chicago trip allowed the organization to revisit where its work began while showing students what can grow from sustained investment in Black youth.
For Perry-Mason, the journey from First Independence Bank in Detroit to its Chicago branch also represented a lesson young people could see for themselves: A Detroit institution can begin locally, grow beyond Michigan and continue carrying its history with it.
The trip placed that lesson alongside the legacy of the nation’s first Black president during a holiday centered on freedom.
For the young people aboard the bus, Juneteenth became an opportunity to study the past while asking what ownership, leadership and financial independence could look like in their own futures.
