Stories

Each month, SHARE Charlotte provides a series of highlights on local nonprofits who are doing great work for a cause that may be close to your heart.  We call this series #SpotlightOnCLT and we hope it helps you get involved in ways that matter most to you - you can attend events, donate, or volunteer! Most of all, our goal is for you to be more educated about issues in our city and region. 

This February, SHARE Charlotte is highlighting nonprofit partners who are working to impact Financial Literacy in Charlotte. Their work empowers individuals and families to achieve financial independence and security through education, budgeting workshops, coaching, and connection to resources for entrepreneurs. 

We're very thankful that U.S. Bank is partnering with us to present this month's topic and support these nonprofits. U.S. Bank offers financial wellness tools to help consumers build a strong financial foundation, plan for retirement,  and more. 

Note: By clicking the buttons for each organization, you can access contact information, volunteer interest forms, social media contacts, and upcoming events. We hope you will!

ASPIRE Community Capital 
ASPIRE Community Capital provides business development services through boot camps. This practical and intensive method empowers entrepreneurs with essential skills and knowledge that become their passports to access capital. By utilizing the boot camp format, we deliver comprehensive, focused, and practical services that align with our mission of radically transforming lives through small business ownership and making success possible. 

Crisis Assistance Ministry
While most of the community knows Crisis Assistance Ministry as a financial emergency room, they may not realize every recipient of financial assistance is assessed to identify additional referrals, optimize budget options, and consider future needs. Then, qualified individuals and families engage in longer-term financial empowerment coaching: meeting once a week for around three months with a certified specialist to identify barriers, set goals, and create a plan for financial stability. Sessions are based on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) financial well-being tool "Your Money, Your Goals" to better understand credit, budgeting, and allocation of resources to build a sustainable financial plan based on each household's unique income and needs. Through this work, what often begins as a crisis is transformed into a catalyst for financial literacy and long-term self-sufficiency.  

Families Forward Charlotte
Families Forward Charlotte supports families working to achieve economic mobility by providing individualized mentoring, critical resources, and educational workshops. We work with families in the Charlotte area who are navigating poverty, helping them set and reach goals to build brighter futures. Through our workshops and one-on-one mentoring, we provide practical financial literacy tools and strategies, empowering families to manage budgets, reduce debt, and plan for long-term success. 

Fearless Brown Girls®
Fearless Brown Girls® equips underserved and underrepresented high school girls with the tools they need to achieve financial confidence and independence. Through culturally relevant and engaging programs, practical resources, and mentorship, we simplify complex financial concepts and help girls take charge of their futures. Our programs build financial literacy while fostering leadership, self-confidence, and mental wellness, recognizing the critical connection between financial stability and overall well-being. 

Generational Wealth Educators 
Generational Wealth Educators revolutionizes financial empowerment for low-income minority families by leveraging virtual reality technology to deliver transformative financial literacy and entrepreneurship education. Through immersive learning experiences, we equip individuals with the tools to build wealth, achieve homeownership, and create sustainable businesses that foster generational prosperity. Common Wealth Charlotte equips economically-vulnerable wage earners with increased financial capability, so they can attain financial stability and decrease reliance on charitable assistance. This is achieved through a trauma-informed approach including education, personalized counseling, access to banking, and no-interest loans. 

Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas
Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas' (JA)'s mission is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy, through educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, with the following goals: to enhance students' knowledge around business and personal finance; to improve work-readiness skills and foster an entrepreneurial spirit among our youth. With support from business and community volunteers, JA of Central Carolinas serves more than 31,000 students annually across 52 counties in the Carolinas.

Kika's House
Kika's House recognizes that true empowerment requires breaking the cycle of financial hardship that often traps marginalized women in chronic stress and limited opportunities. By integrating financial literacy with physical training, nutritional education, and mental health support, we help women transform their economic reality, turning financial knowledge into a powerful tool for healing and generational change. Our program doesn't just teach skills; we create a comprehensive pathway that connects financial education to mental wellness, physical strength, and community resilience. Through strategic partnerships and targeted workshops, we're helping women rewrite their economic narratives, shifting from survival mode to strategic personal and family wealth-building. 

Launched For Life
Launched For Life offers tools, experiences and skills to equip young adults for successful adulthood. We want to see people to live life to the full! One of our five foundational steps is Financial Independence. We empower our campers, fellows, and participants to understand the importance of financial freedom through lessons on budgeting, understanding credit, insurance, investing, entrepreneurship and estate planning. Through our Live Beautifully initiative, participants learn the financial principals of economics, goal setting and delayed gratification as they make arrangements to travel, pay rent, or attend personal development events. 

Money Magnets Club
Money Magnets Club is a community that runs programs as a nonprofit organization going into its sixth year of existence that operates in Charlotte, NC (particularly serving neighborhoods and communities on the West side of town). Money Magnets Club was co-founded by community member and former child entrepreneur, Dr. Alexandra Arrington in 2019 with Teresa Cain, a children’s librarian at the West Boulevard branch of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. 

The goals of the organization are to shepherd elementary-aged children, that we lovingly refer to as “kids” and/or “kidpreneurs-in-training,” through a process to understand business concepts and ideas. They also are guided through preparing and producing business plans, and conducting pitches to communicate their learning and business ideas in a succinct and supported way to others. The kids we work with each year are learning things related to business and then the organization provides them with opportunities to demonstrate the concepts, and resources to practice them in developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant ways.  

New Era Academy 
New Era Academy empowers youth through holistic education, focusing on financial literacy, mental wellness, physical health, and career readiness. We serve underserved communities, equipping students with the tools to make informed financial decisions, build resilience, and achieve personal and professional growth. By teaching essential financial skills like budgeting, saving, and credit management, we help youth build a foundation for lifelong financial stability and community impact. 

StriveCLT
StriveCLT empowers families to build social capital and achieve economic mobility by addressing critical gaps in literacy, mentorship, and community connection. A cornerstone of our holistic approach is equipping underserved communities with essential financial literacy skills to make informed decisions and secure brighter futures. Over the past three years, we have partnered with Inlivian (formerly Charlotte Housing Authority) to deliver impactful financial literacy workshops, preparing prospective renters to navigate budgeting, savings, and credit management with confidence. Led by StriveCLT board members with financial expertise, these interactive sessions—conducted both virtually and in-person—have provided actionable tools to help families pursue affordable housing and long-term stability. 

The Kaizen Foundation of NC
The Kaizen Foundation was established to create a positive societal impact through the promotion of financial literacy and education among people who are most vulnerable to poor economic health. In doing so, we have contributed to the empowerment of underprivileged individuals by providing accessibility to comprehensive resources that equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed financial decisions. Since inception, The Kaizen Foundation of NC has collaborated with passionate volunteers and financial experts to provide citizens of underserved communities a wide range of educational programs, workshops, and online tools that break the complexities of financial concepts down into practical and easy to understand information. 

The Konspicuous Foundation
The Konspicuous Foundation empowers individuals and families—particularly in underserved communities—through financial literacy education and economic empowerment programs. We serve youth and adults by offering workshops, scholarships, and initiatives like our Youth Business Development Incubator, which equips aspiring entrepreneurs with the tools to succeed. By providing knowledge and resources on budgeting, saving, credit management, and entrepreneurship, we help our community achieve financial stability and build generational wealth.