Rise Inc

Who taught you about money, credit, or how to file taxes? Did anyone help you create a plan for retirement or for generational wealth? Did anyone teach you the steps necessary to buy a house? If someone did, make sure you count that blessing twice. At RISE Inc., we identified a need for this among friends, family, and members of our community. We wanted to create a non-profit organization that was dedicated to educating people in need of these fundamentals for financial literacy in America.

FINANCIAL LITERACY

fi·nan·cial lit·er·a·cy [fi-nan-shuhl lit-er-uh-see]

noun

the ability to understand and effectively use various financial skills, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. The possession of skills and knowledge to allow an individual to make informed and effective decisions for a lifetime of financial well being.

Our goal is to have resources available for people at any level to start preparing and learning how money works.

Additionally, we want to empower at risk youth, with entrepreneurial mindsets, to identify ways to make money that doesn’t involve risking their freedoms. We have a team of like-minded individuals who have experienced money in America on all ends of the spectrum who are willing and committed to spreading whatever knowledge we can to the youth throughout the Greater Washington Metropolitan area.

How Rise Inc. Came to Be

According to a study done by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, the DC area has had the highest percentage of gentrifying neighborhoods in the country. Gentrification is defined as “a force that happens when lower income neighborhoods receive massive levels of new investment, adding amenities, raising home values and bringing in new upper-income residents which can lead to cultural displacement.” It was estimated that around 20,000 black DC residents were displaced over the period studied. “Rapidly rising rents, property values, and taxes have forced more than 135,000 residents to move out of their communities throughout the country.

Best Friends Christina Eury (Owner & Broker of Rise Real Estate LLC), a white woman whose family is from Washington DC and Tina Gray (Owner of Rasta Barbie Tings Catering LLC), a first generation American whose family is from Jamaica, grew up in the same area but had very different experiences with money. The success we had together towards creating a plan for our personal credit, home ownership journeys, and business plans led to us deciding as a team we have so much to offer the world and this is how Rise Inc. came to be!

“There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.”

– Dr. King, Nobel Peace Prize address, 1964

Could gentrification ever be a good thing? Shouldn’t EVERYONE benefit from the influx of funds? Who is left behind? How can we change that? Why don’t we learn about the history of home ownership in America? Redlining, blockbusting, banking industry set ups are all factual parts of our history. But are these practices just a part of your history or are they still taking place today? If they are, it’s not just on the government to right these wrongs. As individuals and small businesses, we have more power to help bring about change. Tina’s Jamaican parents came here to America to live the American Dream. But Tina was forced to figure out most financial education on her own. She got herself into college but instead of thriving, was drowning in debts and struggling financially. We partnered up to focus on helping her get out of debt and improve her credit scores. This led to her opening her own business and asking how she could take what I taught her to give back to the next person. The success we had together led to us deciding as a team we have so much to offer the world and this is how Rise Inc. came to be!

There are good reasons to rent, however to accumulate wealth in this country often times home ownership is a great path to get there.