Saving and spending. Credit and debit. Loans. Investing. Taxes. Knowing how to manage money is a crucial part of adult life. At many high schools, however, students are left to their own devices when it comes to learning about financial literacy. Without solid financial literacy foundations—only 31% of 18-26 year olds think their high schools did a good job of providing financial education—students are unprepared for independent life. I’ve experienced this first-hand. At Obama Academy, my high school, financial literacy education is not a part of the curriculum. Neither is entrepreneurship, despite high levels of interest in starting a business across our student body. The majority of students are therefore left without guidance on matters of financial and business education. The problem is compounded by the fact that students at Obama are majority minority, female, and low-income. Those groups are the ones most likely to become entrepreneurs. They are also most likely to lack financial literacy or business education. Better—or any—financial education is frequently requested by students, but nothing is provided. Last year, another student, a parent, and myself decided we needed to act. Over the course of several months, we pulled together a grant application asking a local foundation to fund our solution to this problem. Our solution? A venture fund. Purple Eagle Ventures (PEV) is, in reality, more complex than that. We received $12,000 in initial funding from to do three things: serve as an incubator for student businesses, offer grants for student-run nonprofits, and provide financial literacy education. To achieve our first two goals, we hold weekly meetings where students interested in starting businesses or nonprofits are guided through developing their ideas. Eventually students end up in front of our investment board—composed of business and community leaders—where they deliver a pitch for why PEV should fund them. If their pitch is evaluated favorably, they receive some or all of the funding they request, and are advised through incorporation and further growth.. The “venture fund” part of PEV is that we hold equity in PEV-funded businesses. If a business is hugely successful, they can choose to buy back our share, and we’ll use the money to reinvest in the fund. For nonprofits, our grants come with no pecuniary strings attached. So far, we’ve seen one for-profit and one non-profit venture each pitch for funding. The for-profit, started by a sophomore and a senior, is a vegan baked-goods subscription service. It serves students and businesses in the local community, with a current range of three products: granola bars, cookies, and chocolate covered pretzels. The team is receiving about $2,000 in funding to help them grow. The non-profit, led by two seniors and several sophomores, is dedicated to combating the prevalence of food deserts in Pittsburgh’s minority communities by teaching children gardening and healthy eating habits. They’ll receive about $500 to organize summer events and begin self-sustaining fundraising efforts. In December, we also connected three student teams with a crafts fair—attended by over 10,000 people—where they were able to sell their handmade goods and explore the responsibilities and requirements of launching a business. By the end of this year, we expect to help two more teams further develop their business ideas—both related to apparel—and possibly receive seed funding. Students interested in financial literacy may not want to start a business at all. We help them year-round by filling the hole left by the absence of financial literacy courses in Obama’s curriculum. In October, we invited experts from Carnegie Mellon University to teach the senior class (over a hundred students) about saving and investing. In February, we organized seminars on selling products online and a STEM/trades-focused career panel (attended by 15-20 students and 30 students, respectively). In March, before COVID-19 put a halt to our plans, we were working with a local bank on a curriculum to teach entire underclassmen classes financial basics. We’re now trying to record those lessons online and make them available to all students, and to connect interested students with online investing programs so they can learn in their time off. Our approach to financial education is unique in several ways. A differentiating aspect of our venture fund approach is that we actually encourage entrepreneurial students to start real businesses with real money. Our funding is not a game, students aren’t micromanaged, any losses they incur are their responsibility, and there is the possibility of going bust. What’s also unique is that we’re not just a venture fund. We recognize that understanding financial basics, beyond being a gateway to business later in life, is essential to adult life. We don’t just invest money in student businesses; we invest our time and effort in creating programs and curricula that support student needs across the board. We help fill an educational void. There’s no one-size-fits-all model in education. This is true of financial literacy as much as anything else. We believe PEV’s model is the best fit for our school because of our student body’s circumstances. At Obama, combining business with financial education is the most effective educational model. That isn’t necessarily true in other places. We believe anyone trying to meet a similar need in their community can learn from PEV’s approach, which makes education engaging and the stakes of handling money visible. But the most valuable lesson to take away is this: make sure your approach fits the needs of your specific community. That’s how we’ve succeeded, and that’s how you’ll succeed.