Through fun activities for children and workshops for adults, Ishaan Gupta is making sure that financial literacy is accessible to everyone.
“Having those core financial principles is important for every phase of someone’s life,” he said.
Ishaan is a student at Centennial High School in Corona and is Hope through Housing’s 2024 Bank of America Student Leader Intern. Driven by a passion for business and finance, he has his sights set on a career in economics.
“Financial literacy can be complicated so I’ve learned to make things more digestible,” Ishaan said. “Especially for kids, I want them to know how to manage their money so as they get older, they have that healthy relationship with their finances.”
His dedication to financial literacy stems from his involvement with the Future Business Leaders of America, a student organization that prepares youth to become community-minded business leaders. His passion blossomed as he deepened his community engagement.
When he isn’t writing research papers, holding financial workshops for his classmates or leading the youth-run nonprofit Second Serve in the Inland Empire, Ishaan is supporting Hope through Housing’s Pathways to Economic Empowerment initiative.
Pathways to Economic Empowerment aims to ease hardships for residents of National CORE affordable housing communities through financial literacy workshops, money match programs and one-on-one coaching.
Ishaan works closely with Economic Mobility Manger Heidi Reyes to facilitate classes with banks that teach residents about small business administration and management. He also has taken on some of the administrative work with the newsletter and presentations.
“Ishaan has saved our small team hours of work, and with his support, Pathways can expand its reach by focusing on our residents,” Heidi said. “He has grown tremendously since he started, and I am so excited to see where he goes from here.”
The Bank of America leadership program provides students with the tools to become tomorrow’s leaders. The program is part of Bank of America’s ongoing commitment to youth employment and economic mobility.
“Our commitment to breaking the cycle of poverty plays an important role in everything we do,” Hope through Housing Vice President Alyssa Cotter said. “Partners like Bank of America, who believe in the same things we do, are essential to helping underserved communities achieve stability and self-sufficiency.”