Are Charter Schools Saving Kids… or Destroying Public Education? What Parents Need to Know 🎓

27:39And then you go through this, um, capacity meeting where they show you what you did wrong. And then they make a decision. So I was actually in, I was actually on Google's campus and they denied us. I came back. My wife was at the bar with an old fashioned and chicken wings. And I was like, Oh, something's wrong. I said, Hey, boo, what's good. She like, they denied us, but I have a plan. So when she talked to him, she said, Hey, listen, let us know whatever you didn't like in our charter application and we'll rewrite it and do it again. So we literally did a thousand page application twice. We did two capacity interviews, but the one thing that they couldn't refuse was we want a million dollar grant from the state before we were approved for our actual charter.

28:24But the process is you have to apply, you have to talk to the community, you have to get signatures. It's a, it's a very long process. Where's the real estate comfort? Where's the building? Oh, good. We're getting to the money questions. To the money. Let's get this a little warm in here.

28:41So to keep it a buck, keep it a band. We met this developer. Wifey did some research. I'm not going to say their name. And they sold us a dream and they helped us. Let me not let me not knock. They helped us. And we were looking at different buildings and the way they would process it is they came in and said, hey, we will buy the building for you, charge you some points and then sell it back to you. Well, I don't have$10 million to buy the building and renovate it to start a school. So let's go. So on our anniversary, we were in Vegas and that was when, um, what's homeboy name from the Pelicans, um, who don't ever play big boy.

29:18I can't think of it. Yeah. Zion. So that's when he came out. It was our anniversary. It was an earthquake and we kept getting told, no, our investor who we had at the table or they had at the table for us walked away from the deal. We like, man, it's the end of the conference. We said one, two, three, we going to go. So I gave my, um, pitch to this guy. He was like, and the guy behind him said, let me see. He says, so you won a million dollars. I said, yeah, we got, we won a million. He said, you have your charter. I said, yes. Um, he said, all right. So he came back, we had a conversation. He brought a couple investors, one investor walked out.

29:54The next investor came to my house, interviewed us at the crib at the war room and say, yo, I'm gonna pull up. He was from New York. He said, I'm gonna pull up and I'm gonna walk through the school with you. Walk through the school. He said, how much do you need? We found a building. I said, the building seven, I think we're gonna need about 12 to 15 total. He said, I like what y 'all doing. I'm gonna do 15. The developers start acting flaky. I did not know that he was in this one call that I was on. I'm, I'm fuming. I'm thinking it's just me and the developer and they got him kind of on the phone.

30:27I don't know if they were being shady or what. I'm not going to say they were being shady. I'm going off. I asked y 'all, could I cuss earlier? Like, I'm, I'm going here. I had just, I had just finished watching Pablo, Narcos. Like, I'm, I'm going off on this dude. Like, I'm, this is, I'm going in. Wifey's patting me on my leg, like, calm down. So about an hour later, I get a call from the investor. He's like, hey. I'm like, hey, what's going on? just had this call you know things are gonna be okay we got a couple hiccups he's like I was on the call I was like oh shit oh uh-oh he's like I love how you handle this this is you and Natasha school they don't run your money you run your money he said no matter what this balloons to I'm gonna make sure that this school is successful 30 million dollars later he stroked the check Wow Stroke the check Wow But how is he How is it What's in it for him?

31:16Bond It's a bond deal So you make Seven and a quarter Of 30 M's For the next 50 years Unless I refinance Because my call Was coming up in 2027 So Middle school bonds Yeah Yeah Public Public bonds Yeah So you make Seven and a quarter Of 30 M's All day I'm gonna take that all day If I got it sitting in the bank Yeah Especially if I believe In the individuals Who are putting everything together But that's where The financial education came in Because I'm sitting down with these folks and I'm listening. And what's the trade-off? Because other deals were, they had a piece of the business. They had equity.

31:51They were looking at enrollment. Like, nah, these fools not going to have a hand in our pocket. He came in and said, listen, if you're building my building, here's how much I'm going to make. We're going to go to the bond market and make sure y 'all had enrollment. Make sure y 'all do good. Year two, we won charter school of the year. Congratulations on that. Talk about enrollment, right? That's one of the things obviously coming from public school teaching yeah you hear all the time charter schools ruin education charter school i was always proponent like if it's specialized education if they can have you know the wherewithal to do things that we can't provide in public we should you know i'm all for it earners what's up look your marketing website sets the tone for your brand and it's the one touch point every single one of your customers interacts with but if making small changes to your site still feels complicated or slow, you're leaving real opportunity on the table.

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35:00Think iHeart. Streaming, radio, and podcasting. Call 844-844-IHEART to get started. That's 844-844-IHEART. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people? I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush gotta do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at It podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s.

35:36To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y 'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to Look Back at It on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

36:09What's that selection process like? What is enrollment like? Yeah, good question. So the first thing, same thing I told the current administration, charter schools are public schools. Is that my main charter schools are public schools, right? So the division between traditional public schools and charter public schools, Democrats have put a veil over our head. Yes, I said it. I'm gonna say it out loud. Democrats have even the NAACP called for a moratorium on charter schools. Why? If you moratorium charter schools, I don't have a black charter school, right? So the first thing is the marketing of it.

36:42We are public schools. So we're not taking public dollars away from traditional public schools because we are charter public schools. That's the first thing. Second thing. Enrollment is our hustle. Right. Because oftentimes just the nature of it based off of how traditional just how schooling works in this country. I'm going to go ahead and enroll my kid at the closest school next to me. Right. Like I'm just why would I drive all the way across town? Well, drive to my school because you're going to get a private education for free. for, um, that was my commercial. So the lottery itself enrollment, we don't control it at all.

37:16So what you'll hear is charter schools, cherry pick. I can't cherry pick. I can't pick your kid over your kid. The, the, the County actually runs the enrollment process. So whoever they give me is who they give me. Now, the next thing that they'll say is, well, you kick the kids out that you can't have in your school. Well, a I don't, but B, if they do something where it warrants them no longer being in our school, that's the same thing you do. So there's this divisive language that individuals use and it becomes polarizing because now it becomes a talking point. Oh, charter schools just kick kids out.

37:53We've been over six years. I've never expelled a kid. Now, if you hit somebody, you won't go home. We're going to have a conversation with your parents, but I've never expelled a kid. So enrollment is our hustle. I have to get 900 kids times my per people allocation in order for me to keep my budget, to be able to run my charter school. So when you say, okay, but if 5 ,000 kids apply and only a hundred get in, how do you determine a hundred that get in? They do. I don't. The county. So whoever runs the actual lottery is what they call it. They make the decision. So Prince George's County, no matter where you live in Prince George's County.

38:32You apply to my school. They say, all right, 5 ,000 of y 'all apply, random lottery. Here's the hundred that get in. Once it's that buck, once it's that hundred, now I come in and I start having - Always a random lottery. Always a random lottery. You, uh, he said you were the charter school of the year. Yeah. Congratulations again. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. What comes with that? Right. Do you get extra funding? Do you get extra grants, notoriety, or is it just like the plaque you get to put in front of the school when people walk in? Feel good. Notoriety. Is it part of school in America or charter school in Maryland?

39:01Charter school in Maryland of the year in Maryland. Yeah. Yeah. Charter school in Maryland charter school of the year. Yeah. But yeah, notoriety, notoriety. And it's our financial education programming is unparalleled and unmatched. Like there is literally nobody in the world. I'm gonna say doing exactly what we're doing. Now, there's individuals, obviously, that are teaching financial education. My good buddy in Pittsburgh has an entrepreneurship school and he's teaching financial education, incorporating in that. But we're doing shark tanks, giving money away to the scholars. We have a curriculum that's a K through adult curriculum that we have inside of the school that we sell to other schools, that we sell to community groups and that we teach to our community for free.

39:42We're in Buffalo. We have some some interest in New York City. um we are in atlanta so we have our curriculum and there's nobody doing exactly what we're doing inside of a charter school the community piece is important yeah that buy is important are you available to the community that the school sits in or is it just the school community meaning the parents families of the actual students how does that work how do you use that dynamic to your advantage yeah both and so um we are 100 we have like parent square and things of that nature where we communicate. So we have this program called open fund, invest, donate.

40:18And the donate is the key piece because in this capitalistic country, capitalism has done a lot of bad things to black people, period. Right. But again, depending on who you're talking to, it becomes polarizing. And the individuals say that money is the root of all evil. No, people are the root of all evil who are bad people. And then money enhances that personality, which then goes back to teaching financial wellness. So then you're not a jerk when you become rich. So our program is open, fund, invest, donate, because we teach stewardship. As you open an account, you fund your account, you invest in that account.

40:55And as you start to accumulate wealth, you now donate to individuals in need. So that is one of the major programs inside of our school programming that is predominantly for our children and families. but we've started to incorporate that into our curriculum because we have all the way from a K through adult curriculum that goes outside of our school that we have online. So what makes charter schools different in public schools as far as you're able to have different curriculum? You're not held by the same standards. Um, um, one of the lessons inside of legends charter school, one of the first lessons is who you are, right?

41:31Like we black Brown. What? No, you're Haitian. you're Jamaican, you're Puerto Rican, you're Dominican. We control, we have a hundred percent autonomy over our curriculum. So these little babies that I'm looking at these five and six year olds, we're going to talk about bringing you up, not just with financial education, but we have a saying legends is who they are and who they will be. Right. So you said it's the same. You said it's the same as a public school. It's, it's the same as a public school from a funding perspective, but it's, it's not the same of a public school as far as the restriction.

42:02Absolutely. So a lot of people are saying it's not fair. I'm on EYL. So my first my first response was going to be life ain't fair. Fair is a place where they judge pigs. But maybe we shouldn't say that. Don't don't don't clickbait me on that. But I guess when you look at it holistically, it's not fair because individuals from a democratic process, not Democrats, but a democratic process are not allowing for more charter schools. to level the playing field. So there's more charter school, there's more success Academy. I'm fairly certain that success Academy in New York city is bigger than a traditional public school system in New York city.

42:45Right. So is that fair? You say, what do you mean? They have more students success Academy, success Academy. What is success Academy? It's a, it's a really well-run school in New York city. They have, they have multiple schools. possible. I'm going to look it up. I could be wrong. More students? I believe not necessarily more schools per se, but they're servicing more scholars. Sophia, going to look it up. New York City has a million kids. 800 ,000 now. Success Academy is day right there. So why doesn't just every school become a charter school and there's no more public schools? You're trying to get me in trouble, man.

43:19How does it be? How does it bring me to the team, man? The market going to save you. Don't worry about it. Um, we have, we, the culture, including some other individuals have an emotional connection to traditional public schools. That's the public school I went to that they shouldn't get rid of that, that there is this tie to it, but let's keep it real. The, uh, school system that is failing. Our students are doing what they were originally designed to do. Like they were supposed to come in, learn these specific skills and then go work for somebody. So when a charter school comes in and says, nah, you college or career ready.

44:03I'm nah. If you want to work for somebody, work for me or work for yourself. Like literally right now we're looking like the economy is, is a K right now, right? Those who are wealthy are becoming ultra wealthy. And then those who are not are struggling. The Delta in there are those who are entrepreneurs. If you know to not have this W2 income or to have the W2 income, but also have entrepreneurship, we teach something DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion. I'm looking at the camera as well. I'm going to say first, I am not saying I'm not a proponent of diversity, equity, and inclusion. That's not what I'm saying.

44:41However, our DEI is dollars, equity, and invest because those who know financial education and are financially well and know how and y 'all i mean y 'all know this i'm not saying something that y 'all don't know how to maneuver tax laws entrepreneurship w-2 is the highest tax income so on that k chart those who are growing in their wealth is because they write and shit off it's because they buy in and they're not for profit traditional public schools no shots fired that's not how they were originally designed at all. So you brought up the, uh, it made me think about this administration and pretty much to try to the eradication of that and our history, you being the CEO and founder of a school being very firm about who you are and who you're teaching.

45:30How are you combating that? Yeah. So I was at home. Um, I believe either myself or my wife was getting an award. We were in Buffalo. It was late. We got a call probably about nine o 'clock and they said, Hey, we don't get on a conference call because everything that's going on at the administration. We said, cool. Now what preceded that probably about two weeks ago is we got a call that said, Hey, the name of your company is equity now. And they are literally just taking bots and going and looking fast forward back nine 30 at night in Buffalo, New York. We found out we lost a million dollars ripped from us through the AmeriCorps program.

46:05What we have is the Equity Now Legends Fellows program, where we have 18 to 25 year old adults that service kids. So I grew up in a household where we struggle. My parents argued a lot. When I got to school, I'm thinking about my parents' argument. And if it's going to be the same when I get home, I can't focus in class. So the teacher either got to kick me out or take away from everybody else. What we have at Legends is these 18 to 25 year olds I can talk to the students, bring them out and say, hey, how's things going on? So how is this impacting us right out the gate? We lost a million dollars.

46:39Now, we had the power of the governor of the state of Maryland, the power of AmeriCorps, and we all collectively sued and we got to back about 800 ,000. So I'm going to always be unapologetically me. Right. But at the same time, when they asked us to take a look at the things on our website, I'm not changing my company name. but if it says DEI, take it out. That's cool. Don't say DEI. Cause at the end of the day, if I sit down, if y 'all sit down and interview me and y 'all want to bring me into your job versus somebody else, y 'all are more likely to hire someone who you can connect with than someone that's not.

47:16So my mentor said, it don't matter what is on your website. Shamari, you are the black and brown person that's hiring. So just continue to do what you're doing. But it's, it's been, it's been an uphill battle. Curriculum as well. What do you mean curriculum? In terms of of how we teach history. They can't tell. Right. Yeah. Now, what they could do if they found out completely what we did is try and restrict funds and they could come after funding. But yeah, right now, knock on wood, we've been pretty okay. Good. Yeah. So what's the typical day in your school? Yeah. Good question. And was the school year the same as a regular school year?

47:48Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because some charter schools go to school in the summertime. Yeah. So no, we, um, the kid, we, so we follow what's called the PGCPS calendar, Prince George's County public school system calendar. A typical day is the only difference between what you will find at a tradition, not only, but the major differences that you'll find is transitioning, the departmentalization, the subject matter expert teachers, the financial education class, because every, every scholar goes to a financial education class. And we also have drama and Latin. Other than that, I got the same low wild little babies running through the hallways.

48:24uniform no i don't believe in uniform uniform is pipeline to prison no shots fired anybody got a uniform please don't play that over and try and cut it up y 'all who be stealing stuff from instagram um no i we like why am i gonna put you in a uniform why is it a pipeline of prison uniforms what are you wearing in prison uniforms they it's a for me it's a training ground here so here's the thing about so if i have a teacher and i want you to worry about math and i put that student in a uniform, that teacher is now worried about that checklist in your uniform, your son's uniform. You don't have your belt.

48:59So now I have to have provisions and standard operating procedures for my teachers to look out for a student not wearing a uniform. And then I have to have standard operating procedures for what discipline looks like. Why? Where would you go to wear? Where's your metrics compared to a public school, your public school counterparts? We blowing them out the water. We are when you're talking about our county. I don't have the exact numbers. OK, yeah, I have the exact number higher and math. That's what reading all of that. Absolutely. This is outperforming. I mean, huge proponents for education reform.

49:32We can see the industrial model of how school was built and designed is not working for our community. And what you're doing is combating that you said something earlier. And I know all the kids in New York City for sure are going to love it. Kids can have their phones. Yeah. That means technology is allowed in your school. Yeah. That means that artificial intelligence, AI, potentially will be allowed in your school. New York City is trying to figure that out. A lot of school districts was trying to figure that out. How are you guys using the I guess the the freedom to create and innovate using these technologies to your advantage in your school?

50:05Really good question. So, again, I keep saying I'm gonna keep it a buck. A lot of it boils down to what does and does not make sense. Adults make things really complex that then creates problems for children. So if i'm gonna and i'm not knocking nobody who locks up phones But again, just like the uniforms, right? If i'm gonna lock up their phones now, I gotta have an insurance policy Now I gotta have a system by which to lock up the phones Now I have to have I gotta pay somebody to manage locking up the phones So as opposed to a closed system of locking things up We want scholars to be open and we're a financial education school I want your children to be talking about their stock portfolios on their phones when we're doing our stock simulation.

50:55We have what's called a March market madness challenge. I think I said that right, Justin. And what the what the kids do is they literally battle by grade level of who can open up the most stock accounts. So if I if I take their phone, you know, I mean, then they're not looking at it. So we have to make sure that when I tell my enterprise technology solutions team, that's my tech team for y 'all to do your base job is not enough. I need you to be rapidly ahead, showing me what the trends are so I can make sure that I stay ahead of these kids. Right. So we obviously have testing and things of that nature.

51:33So what do we need to do to make sure that we're good? But as this new technology comes in, we're not going to be able to stop it. AI. When the calculator came out, everybody lost their mind. It's the new calculator in a sense. So teach these scholars, don't write your paper in AI. When you old school, I'm going to show my age, encyclopedia, you want to learn about whales. You pull the encyclopedia out, you flip it to W, you learn about whales, and then you write your paper. AI the same. Go in, learn about whales, Stop there and then write your paper. Don't tell Chad now with all the information, write my paper.

52:10So you have to teach productive and responsible usership of all of these new innovative technologies that are coming up. And that's what we do. Assistive technology. Assistive technology. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting. Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ad supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message. Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business?

52:45Think iHeart. Streaming, radio, and podcasting. Call 844-844-iHeart to get started. That's 844-844-iHeart. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people? I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at It podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s.

53:21To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y 'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have eggs on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes, I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah, for me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to Look Back At It on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

53:54A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what y 'all say. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor IV. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment.

54:27And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. I feel like it was a little bit unbelievable until I really started making money.

55:02It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast Eating While Broke is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future. This month, hear from top streamer Zoe Spencer and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum-Pierre as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. If I'm outside with my parents and they're seeing all these people come up to me for pictures, it's like, what? But today now, obviously, it's like 100%. They believe everything. But at first, it was just like, you got to go get a real job. There's an economic component to community thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they fail.

55:39And what I mean by fail is they don't have money to pay for food. They cannot feed their kids. They do not have homes. Communities don't work unless there's money flowing through them. Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What is the difference you think between a charter school and a private school? Oh, man. You shot you, man. So without firing shots, because I have some great relationships with private schools, I'm actually working on a private school where they are going to hold slots for my students.

56:15But just speaking on the facts, not firing shots. I we have to have a certain level of certification degrees, et cetera, to bring a teacher into my school. Private schools do not. That's one right there. Like we can finish the conversation right there. But then that level of autonomy that is much more loose than public school, charter schools. I have a five year contract every year. You asked about our numbers. If I don't hit my numbers, they closed my school. There's no such thing as a private school. No such thing for the private school. No such thing for traditional public schools. So charter to private, we are offering the same high level education, but you don't have to pay for it.

57:03Now, private school for how we have conceptualized over the years, private schools, the network is crazy. We were talking off camera about invest fest and how dope it is in the networking. You're going to have some pretty high level good folks you want to network at a private school and that's a good thing and it's a good benefit i have a mix in my demographics i literally have kids getting picked up in bentley's and maserati's and seven series and i also have scholars that are being dropped off in ubers and their parents is four kids in a two-bedroom house but that's a that's a that's a microcosm of the real world right like you're not going to a school and it's going to have a hundred percent of the student population who parents are fortune 500 they make in multiple six figures and then when you go out into the world that's not what exists no knock to private schools i'm only talking about my school right so those are some of the differences you come from corporate and now working in education i wonder what similarities you see in how you're running a school versus how you would as an exec in the corporate world yeah i should have had my wife here for this one because she might have she might have punched me on it on this one.

58:12So when I came in, I tried to especially from a higher education perspective, like so higher ed and corporate, we always talk about institutional effectiveness, right? So institutional effectiveness is our means by which we have key performance indicators. And here is how we measure this. And there's a certain way that we do that. There is a similarity that is cold. So I call it a strategic plan and an action plan. As you'll know, they call it a school improvement plan. So those similarities are all the way throughout. So one of the biggest things for us adjusting, and I'll say my wife being a CEO, me being a CEO is that language piece.

58:49You know, when you start talking about love languages, that communication, we communicate, but then we comprehend each other because I call it action plan. She called it a school improvement plan, but there's tons of synergies. What gets measured makes progress and literally incorporate was GE bottom 10 % they fire. That was the GE model, Jack, Jack Walsh, Jack Welch. When you start looking at charters, if you don't make it within that five years, you're gone. So there are a ton of similarities between corporate and inside of the charter school ecosystem. So, um, okay. So equity now, right? Yeah.

59:20Company, the school you have that, that's the component that works with the school. Good, good, good one. So equity now is the non-for-profit charter management organization that does all of the back end. So anything that you don't think about when you went through school, lights, RTU units. Right now we're working on our bond deal. I'm having these long meetings with these investors who want to come in and refinance. We do all of that dirty work. So my wife, shout out to CEO, Atasha James. All she has to worry about is academics. I got your bag, boo. You just, you just worry about academics and school performance.

59:56And I got everything else. That's one. And then two is the delivery of our as an education management organization, the delivery of our financial education curriculum. So it's our job to provide what the K through a financial education curriculum looks like our scope and sequence, our manipulatives. If we're adding A.I. or gaming gamification to it. Those are the two things that we provide to Legend Charter School. and then it runs um completely autonomously i don't get involved in their board their board meetings or any of that i feel like i i know the answer but i'm asking anyway all right when you have a level of success that you're having it feels like the natural thing is like we should plan another school so is it on the the vision board or are we saying we've got something that's so great here let's continue to make this great for pg county yeah so breaking news um i think i probably about two things my wife gonna kill me about um where nobody's um we decided to go early so let's go to the business side so corporate the corporate question if i go with a high school that means i take a hundred students and in that hundred students i take that per people allocation and let's call it a million dollars, but it cost me three million dollars to run it.

1:01:20I'm two million in a hole. I can't I can't I can't run like that. I can't provide quality education to my children and families in that large of a deficit. Plus, my wife's specialty are the littles. So what we decided to do is we are now looking to go preschool through eight and then consider all of that mess I was talking about with private schools when you asked me the question, consider a private high school. The reason why is if I can get them once they stop peeing a pooping on themselves, like you gotta, you gotta go to the bathroom on your own. I can get you at three, four years old and start instilling financial education and literacy in you.

1:01:57And you're understanding the concepts and just hearing the stock market and things of that nature at four years old. And I keep you until you're an eighth grader. You literally will be a half a million dollar literally literally so we want to start early earlier so we're looking to purchase a couple daycares and turn them into early learning centers to you know to multiply um and then on the back end take a look at what a private high school will look like i'll say really quick high school so proud of my students um one of the local high schools a bunch of our students went there and yesterday i believe for all this um stuff that's going on with ice they did a walkout and some of our students our graduates were actually in there what they signed so it was just to give them love so that's that's our plan to go early and then think about what it looks like on the back end something tells me and correct me if i'm wrong it makes a lot of sense because pre-k is i mean it's it's strenuous especially coming from a parent's side if you can't afford it if it's not full day it could be a whole thing but the other part of it knowing that you're in the market and you're watching that these new accounts are being created for kids who were born this year that feels like it's aligned and kind of how were you looking at it like that so we we we um so white house don't look at this and and trying to shut us down or anything crazy we did this long before then so i have a mentor who's donated over a hundred thousand dollars to our school so we give away what's called the roger k struther so when we opened in 2020 your children apply for the scholarship we did our open fund invest donate program you opened up your custodial account and then we gave you 200 500 a thousand dollars in your account and we track it all the way through so we so right there yeah we did that okay yeah they sold a model let's Perhaps, allegedly, allegedly, maybe.

1:03:59But it's a great model because now you are six years old. You have a custodial account and it doesn't matter if you're putting five dollars in it. You're six years old. Right. And now you learn the concept of pay yourself first. So I've taught you in at five years old, the adult concept of pay yourself first. Then I can teach you the adult concept of automated with a system because now I can sit down with the child, the child and the family and say, hey, let's make sure this comes directly out your paycheck. I'll give you a real quick story. I had a child, a parent come and it was a pseudo complaint.

1:04:42they said hey listen they said yo i went to target and i pulled out my car and my my my daughter said is that a charge card a credit card or debit card because they all have different interest rates and i was like where they learning this at and we said ma 'am you brought your kids to ledger charter school with financial education provided by equity now this is what we do so we we're we're forcing the kids will go to their parents and say don't buy me jordans right Like, like, don't give me money for my stock account. Give me open up my customer. They're pressing their parents to do things that we almost never even heard of at a time.

1:05:22So how did you, how'd you end up at InvestFest with the education? Talk about your experience there. Yeah. So I saw y 'all boys. Look, I just got goosebumps when you said that. I, I, again, I saw y 'all on, on Good Morning America. And I was like, this is what, this is, this is match made in heaven. Um, but we were still building. Like I had to put a school up, you know what I mean? So when I finally got the opportunity to kind of get things settled, I said, I got to get to invest fest. And, um, we came with our t-shirts. We have t-shirts that say nepotism is our birthright and equity looks like me.

1:05:54So we came with our t-shirts. I think we sold five t-shirts. We only sold five t-shirts. Um, but the experience, man, I'm a, I'm a Gemini, I'm a May Gemini, and I'm big on energy and my spirituality and all money and good money and all people ain't good people just because they're doing good. things. However, and VestFest and everybody there and credit to y 'all because it's top down. It was, I mean, literally it was so much love. I said, I'm bringing my whole team next year. So we looked at the sponsorship packets. Um, I went to my finance team and I said, uh, we might need to do a little more with donations so we can pay a little more.

1:06:31So the next year I brought my entire team. We had a booth. I did my podcast expediting change. You can find it on YouTube. We, I probably interviewed 20, 30 people on the podcast. Y 'all did the book signing. So it was crazy. It was literally y 'all would do y 'all book signing. Y 'all have a line wrapped around and then they would see my lights and they come right over to me. Like it was, it was perfect. Um, but the energy was just love. So I had to make sure that my community, my team, those who I support actually could see the power because when you hear about invest fest is one thing, but when you actually go and you see it it's like going to a work conference you get there and you are hyped and then you get back to the job and everybody like what are you talking about so i told my team yo this is crazy so i said okay y 'all think i'm crazy everybody gone so we'll be there this year as well be there and well y 'all moved it up though right oh yeah yeah yeah we'll we'll be there um a little bigger stage there's a workshop so i did a workshop what would you teach on a workshop?

1:07:34We called it money, power, purpose. And y 'all, listen, we talked and they said, well, it might be two or 300 people in the workshop. Our apologies. 800 people later, people were sitting on the floor. So people must have been telling people to come into it. So they had to bring security to stop them from coming in. I said, okay, I'm gonna say that I'm that good. I'm gonna say that I'm that good, but really y 'all crowd who y 'all bring just they are yearning for the information you got bigger room than shit we learned from that i appreciate it i appreciate it i appreciate it i appreciate it so i mean that's not a bad thing though like right like you because if i had a bigger room and it was only 20 people it'd be uh-oh um but the experience was amazing money power purpose what we talked about i told my story um about how i hustled and i did things that my mom wouldn't necessarily be proud of because my struggles with my trauma regarding financial wellness, but I wanted to get to the bag.

1:08:33And I talked about, uh, we talked about, cause, uh, Justin, he was there on stage with me. Um, we talked about Tulsa. Um, we talked about owning your own story based off of what wealth means to you, because what wealth means to you, to you and me are three completely different things. One of my biggest things with wealth is love that I received from my family. I had nothing to do with income right but if i'm not whole then i'm not getting that love and if i don't have that love it's not fueling me to go out and get the bag so that's what we talked about on stage was money power purpose and i'm pretty sure we're gonna we're gonna run that back money power purpose the updated version you your father yes how does this feel in terms of legacy you know the school number i'm assuming the kids are 10 yeah well what my kids so my kids 21 and 25 oh it done.

1:09:21So how does this look from a legacy side? Are they involved in the business or are they figuring out their own spaces? A little bit of both. So fundamentally believe nepotism is their birthright. Right. Like who else would I give a contract to if it's not my son, my daughter, somebody I'm related to as long as they're qualified. So both of them work for each organization. My son works for Equity Now the nonprofit and my daughter works for Legends Charter School. So I'm my son's boss and my wife is my daughter's boss. And shout out to my daughter she recently did the entire planning of the event that brought governor westmore to the school amazing um she oh he is solid solid dude she planned the whole thing so from a legacy perspective it is i'm never going to force you into what i believe you should do because he also bartends like do what makes you happy and know that we're planning over here that there is something that ultimately is for you to take and my daughter we were in puerto rico um me and my wife, son and daughter, we were at dinner and she looked up and she said, I'm 21.

1:10:21I'm a graduate from Howard. I'm a party a little bit. So I said, Whoa, Whoa, that's privileged. She said, you taught me to be privileged. I said, well, what am I supposed to do? Like in the transition? She said, you better write something in them board bylaws that when I get ready, that that seat becomes mine. And I said, waiter, can you give us another bottle of wine? But from a legacy perspective, um, they know and understand that we're, that we're building and we're really big on community, I'll say. We're also building a 10-acre compound in Fort Washington, Maryland, where all of our family, we're building seven houses and a community house.

1:10:57So they understand that we're all connected and nepotism is their birthright as long as they're qualified to do the job. Awesome. Appreciate it. Oh, man. Keep up the great work. I appreciate it. It's impactful. Appreciate it. So what do you want to leave the audience with? Like, tell them all the information as far as Equity Now and then even the school or anything else you have coming up. Absolutely love that. Thank you for that opportunity. Everything can be found on my website, shomarijames.com, S-H-O-M-A-R-I, james.com. No spaces, Equitable Inc., my for-profit, Equity Now, my non-for-profit, as well as my podcast.

1:11:31You can donate to the non-for-profit. We do take donations. We love it. And please pull up on us. At the end of the day, it's not just about money like yourselves. When these scholars and other individuals even 20, 30 year olds, when they see you, they can believe it is what they can become. Right. So if you want to see Shamari, James.com, we have an entire community. It's called equity. Now the network equity, now the network.org. Join us. We about 11 ,000 members strong, more love. We had about 350 members. We came back from a vest fest. We jumped to 10 ,000 members. So all love. So please Shamari, James.com.

1:12:11I do coaching. We have a curriculum. We have kid workbooks, as well as we have a financial education curriculum for children and families. There you are, ladies and gentlemen. We'll see you guys next week. Peace. Peace. On paper, the three hosts of the Nick Dickens Poll show are geniuses. We can explain how AI works, data centers, but there are certain things that we don't necessarily understand. Better version of play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong. But hey, no one's perfect.

1:12:48We're pretty close, though. Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Paul show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and host of the podcast, A Slight Change of Plans. A show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. Listen to A Slight Change of Plans on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:13:34It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast Eating While Broke is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future. This month, hear from top streamer Zoe Spencer and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum-Pierre as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. There's an economic component to community thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they fail. Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:14:30Listen to Saigon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.