BALTIMORE — “People are yearning for information. African Americans are 400 years plus behind. That's what we're missing in the community, is exposure to resources,” said Blonka Mack, founder of the Blonka Movement
Blonka Movement is a nonprofit that goes into schools to educate students on financial literacy through music.
“They learn how to get six figure lines of credit from the bank, how to leverage their credit, stocks and bonds, how to actually make a blueprint. So many things that’s not talked about in our household, especially growing up. You know, we learned through trial and error,” said Mack.
She’s on her 4:44 Financial Literacy World Tour. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the blueprint of the workshop and all of the lesson plans are inspired by Jay-Z’s 4:44 album.
“The album of just uplifting the African American community. Ownership, we promote that a lot. We go into the depths that it would take normally a few semesters to learn, to get it right then during a workshop,” said Mack.
With the support of Roc Nation, the Blonka Movement is traveling to 10 cities across the country. Baltimore is one the stops.
“The people are thriving here. I see so many of the entrepreneurs. Trust me, I do my research and they're on the frequency of financial literacy, so it was only right to bring the tour here,” said Mack.
Starting off they’re selecting just one high school to work with. They’re revealing which school in a surprise announcement on their social media account.
“We try to make it an intimate process, where I know them on a first name basis. And then we navigate to other schools in Baltimore,” said Mack.
Over the years, they’ve helped fund students LLCs.
“During our great debate exercise, they discover what their purpose is in the career field and we give them business plans,” said Mack.
The Blonka Movement started in 2017 out of her hometown of New Orleans. Since then they’ve brought the program to Jay-Z’s alma mater in Brooklyn and overseas to schools in Jamaica and St. Thomas. She’s excited to add Baltimore to that list.