The Daily Signal - INTERVIEW | Juneteenth: A Day to Celebrate Freedom

Episode Date: June 19, 2023

After years of teaching, Arianne Craig Jolla says parents, not just educators, need to teach their children. And as the nation celebrates Juneteenth on Monday, Craig Jolla says parents have a wonderful opportunity to educate their children on the history behind the day and the joy of freedom.  Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of the last enslaved blacks after the end of the Civil War. As the author of “Teach Your OWN Kid! Schools Can’t Do It Alone,” Craig Jolla says parents play an important educational role on Juneteenth.  Craig Jolla joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the history of Juneteenth and a new initiative that aims to end generational cycles of poverty.  As co-founder of the Louisiana based HYPE Academy Private School & Academic Resource Center and a longtime teacher, she says students lack basic financial knowledge.  "It is a cycle of poverty that will not be undone just in a classroom, but there has to be a tool that we bring online, a learning solution for those kids to undo some of the generational issues that we're seeing," she says. Through an interactive app called Cash Academy, Craig Jolla says students will be able to learn how to "earn, invest, save, spend, and give." "Just as we are fighting for education freedom in black and brown schools that serve black and brown kids, just as we, Hype Academy, is now moving into our project Cash Academy, and we're fighting for financial freedom for those same kids, it is important for them to know that historically that their ancestors ... fought for those fundamental freedoms to be able to go to school and to get the kind of assistance that many of our young people are the beneficiaries of," she says. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today is Monday, June 19th. I'm Virginia Allen. After years of teaching, Ariane Craig Jolla began to see a big problem within the education system. Many students lack knowledge of how to handle finances. So she decided that she was going to create a new education tool for students. And as the author of Teach Your Own Kids, School Can't Do It Alone. Ariana Craig Jola is a true advocate for stepping up and filling in those gaps within education. And Ariane Craig Jola, she joins us now. Ariane, thanks for being with us. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it, Virginia. Well, I'm really excited to talk with you about how you are going about tackling a big problem within our education system. And that is that so many kids leave school without an understanding of how to handle money,

how to handle finances, how to grow wealth, that's an issue that you're tackling through an app. We're going to talk about that here in just a moment. We're also going to talk more about the fact that today we are celebrating Juneteenth and how parents can be a part of celebrating that day with their kids and really communicating the significance of the day to those kids. But I want to start by talking a little bit about your story. You taught in public schools for a long time, correct? Absolutely. I have been an educator for 21 plus years. I'm beginning to lose count. But 21 plus years, I started off in the public school system here in New Orleans and a surrounding parish called St. Tammany Parish. And found, but I've wanted to do it since I was in fourth grade, since I walked into my favorite teacher's class, Mrs. Weber, the late Mrs. Flora Weber. And talked to. in the public school system here and was completely disillusioned with what I saw and felt like our kids were being set up for failures. So fast forward, I actually started my own school. Once I was

about five years in right after Hurricane Katrina, I saw the need and ended up starting my own school called Hype Academy, helping young people excel Academy here in the city. And we've graduated since 2011. We've graduated about 12 young people who have gone on to do everything from join the Police Academy to nursing to business and recently launched and transitioned into, and we're in the very early stages, but we are transitioning into app development. And yes, it's called Cash Academy, which is the financial literacy app, specifically that we're working to design for young people, teenagers of color, because we're finding that that is one of the major challenges that our kids are experiencing and even some of us as adults are experiencing.

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's something across the board that so many people face of just no one taught me how to do this. No one taught me how to navigate the world of money and finances. What were some of the things that you were seeing with students that you were interacting with that compelled you to say, you know what? I can't sit idly by. I need to do something. Yeah, absolutely. I guess I can rewind it just a little bit to my own story. I grew up number eight of eight kids to a single mom who actually picked

cotton with her sharecropper grandfather and not far from here in rural Mississippi. And some of the financial literacy lessons that I learned, I've, as a 43-year-old, adult with two college degrees and the courage to leave the public school system and start my own school, I still struggle with accessing the proper tools and the proper lessons. So I grew up thinking, okay, if you're between paycheck, just paychecks just borrow until you can, until you get to the next pay day or spend every single dime that you get because there's no need to save. because when you're in poverty, you tend to live like there is no tomorrow. And so I started to see some of these same issues pop up not only in my students, but in their

parents as well. And it identified to me that this is a generational problem. It is a cycle of poverty that will not be undone just in a classroom, but there has to be a tool that we bring online a learning solution for those kids to undo some of the generational issues that we're seeing in. That's huge. Yeah. So what is included within the app if someone goes to the platform, and I know it's in the

process of being developed, but what is the vision, what is the picture for what you want young people to be able to pull from this? Sure. So we are, and of course, like you said, we're in the very beginning. We pitched it in D.C. not long ago through a program called Launchpad with the state policy network. And we're working to pitch it to venture capitalist in Atlanta later this summer. So we are definitely in the development stage.

But the vision is that it will use TikTok style videos to teach financial concepts. And the concepts, the main concepts are earn, invest, save, spend, and give. those five financial concepts. And the young people, the Cash Academy students, will watch these short videos, take quick quizzes following, and they'll earn points for every video they watch, every quiz they take. And those points, the goal is to have those points be converted to cash,

where they can use with our banking sponsor to invest or to save. They can use with our retail sponsors to spend. But of course, you know, instead of it being the full of, amount if you decide to spend it, then it may be a little bit less than what you earned initially. And they'll also be able to convert those points into cash to give through our nonprofit sponsors. So the goal is to change and improve outcomes for these young people. So we no longer want financial literacy to be an abstract, just a thought of, oh, we've heard the term.

We want them to make decisions within the app that are relevant and that actually lead them to continuing to make better decisions, such as being rewarded for investing and saving. That's such a creative idea. Would this be something that would be used in schools or that parents would be putting on their kids' phones or just that you all would be pushing out maybe on other social media apps and letting kids know, hey, this is a resource for you to use? All of the above, Virginia. all of the above. We already have a couple of schools through the Black Minds Matter project with the American Federation for Children. We already have schools that are prepared to be beta testing sites. So there'll be some of those schools in those districts will, and across the country. So there are over 400 black founders of schools that have been identified through the Black Minds Matter project. And we have some of those schools that are ready to be beta testing. made a testing site. So that's one way. And then, of course, just available in the app store, available through our sponsors, available through organizations in communities. So we want Cash Academy to be an app that is used globally. I love it. Cash Academy. It's so practical. Well, and I love,

I think, the practical approach that you do take to education and the fact that it seems like where you have seen issues where you have seen problems within the education system. You have said, you know what, I'm going to jump in and tackle it and be a part of the solution. And you challenge parents to do the same as is so lovely portrayed in your book title, Teach Your Own Kids, school, can't do it alone? What does that look like, do you think, for parents to truly begin to become much more involved in their own child's education, especially when that child is attending, whether it's a public school or a private school and it's coming home at the end of the day, doing homework. What does it look like for parents to step into that space of actually

being a part of their child's education? It's pretty simple, Virginia. Ask questions. Engage with your child. So not every parent is able to maybe volunteer at a school or maybe not every parent feels equipped to help with specific homework assignments. But asking questions and making and engaging in conversation with your kids is one of the most effective ways to stay tuned in to what's going on in that school building and what's going on in that classroom. If you're asking questions, then your child becomes more responsive. The more you ask questions, the more you ask questions, the more you inquire about whether it's homework or field trips or what happened in school today. What did you have for lunch? Those kinds of things. Making sure that you stay involved and stay curious

about what's going on with your child in the school setting. One of the things that I talked about in the book when I released it, teach your own kids, schools can't do it alone. I wanted to help the parent to understand that you are your child's first teacher. So we as formal educators, as educators who've been trained in education, we are your partner. Right. So it is our goal to partner with you to ensure that we all work together as a community to ensure that your child is number one and gets the appropriate schooling, the appropriate assistance. So one of the best things to do to make sure you are involved is to just begin asking questions and making sure that you're engaging on a very fundamental level in conversation about what's going on in the classroom.

Well, parents have a great opportunity today to educate their kids and to talk about the significance of today, June 10th. Share with us, if you would, just a little bit of the historical significance of June 10th. It's absolutely significant. Just as we are fighting for education freedom in black and brown schools that serve black and brown kids, just as we, Hype Academy is now moving into our Project Cash Academy and we're fighting for financial freedom for those same kids. It is important for them to know that historically that their ancestors, the people that they are aiming to make proud, fought for those fundamental freedoms to be able to go to school and to get the kind of assistance that many of our young people are the beneficiaries of. So I think historically we have to make

sure that they understand that many people sacrificed for us to have the freedoms that we have. and I think the bottom line is to make sure that our kids know that they are free, right? Because that's the whole gist of Juneteenth is that our ancestors were free and did not know that they were free. So they still behaved as if they were enslaved, right? Because in their minds, they didn't know that things had changed. It is our goal as educators and hopefully our parents as well is to make sure that our kids know the first fact is that you are free. And now here is the responsibility that comes with that freedom that we enjoy. And that's whether it's education freedom or financial freedom.

But I think that parents can be on the front line with us with that as well. Absolutely. Yeah. Are there any resources that you would direct parents towards today specifically as they're diving in to sit down with their child, have a conversation about the significance of Juneteenth or maybe certain abolitionists that you would say, oh, you really need to check out and read this person's story. Well, I'll definitely say as far as resources, because many parents across the country will hear this, you probably won't have to look much further than your local. government, your local libraries, your local parks. There are, especially since Juneteenth is now, thankfully, a nationally celebrated holiday, then many people have now begun to put programs together, whether it is something where we are philanthropic and we're going out and we're helping in the

community or picnics in the park just to celebrate family and to celebrate family and to celebrate freedom. So I would just start with looking at local resources, finding a way to engage with your child, with your family, in those local resources that are available. I would start right there. That's so simple. I love it. Well, I truly am just so excited to see where this app is going to go and to see more and more young people come into the knowledge of understanding their finances. because that truly changes generations. It does. So foundational.

It really, really does. How can we keep up with what you're up to and be aware? So whenever this app does come live, come online, we can know right away. Or sure thing. We are hypeacademy.com on the web and on Facebook as well as Instagram. We are Hype Academy as well. So, of course, Cash Academy is a project of Hype Academy, which stands for helping young people excel. Excellent. Ariane Craig, Jola, thank you so much your time today. We just really appreciate

you joining us. Thank you, Virginia. I appreciate you having me. Well, and with that, that is going to do it for today's episode of the Daily Signal podcast. If you haven't had a chance, be sure to check out our evening show. It's right here in this same podcast feed where every day around 5 p.m. we bring you the top news of the day. Also, if you haven't already, take just a moment to subscribe, leave us a five-star rating and review. But we hope that you all have a wonderful week, but we'll see you right back here at 5 p.m. for our top news edition. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Luey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and

Samantha Asheras. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.