The Shirley Pratt-Little Foundation was started by Jara Flowers, as a way to honor her grandmother who inspired her to learn about financial literary and spread her knowledge to the community.
ROCKINGHAM — Jara Flowers understands that financial literacy is essential for people to establish a foundation to build upon.
A Rockingham-native, Flowers returned to the area last year after living in Charlotte for most of her life. She saw first-hand the skills that individuals were lacking in this area. Drawing on the lessons she learned from her grandmother, Shirley Pratt-Little, who worked for the Richmond County Schools system for 38 years as a secretary and bookkeeper, Flowers decided to do her part to help people learn financial skills that would open up new opportunities for them in the future.
“My grandmother [Shirley Pratt-Little], was big on giving back and she was always a help to me,” Flowers said. “I wanted to create something in her memory and legacy that was going to be that beacon of light that she was for me.”
And so, The Shirley Pratt-Little Foundation was started this year.
“My grandmom’s main thing on me was education,” Flowers said. “She was big on financial literacy. She knew that those two things you needed in the world.”
Flowers had been giving financial advice to her friends and family in 2020, but saw the larger need when people in the community began to reach out to her. The pandemic only accelerated that need.
“I was like ‘Ok, this is something I can do to help people and give them a chance,’” Flowers said. “Most people get into that mindset like ‘Oh, my credit’s my bad, I have no way of changing it.’ They get stuck. They don’t realize credit is temporary and changes every 30 days.”
Flowers has a degree in business and served in the military for 10 years, where she led financial literary courses. She’s officially out of the reserves as of last week.
She has already held a few credit repair courses since starting the Foundation. The Foundation has partnered with Bruce Stanback to host some classes at The James C. and Ruth P. Watkins Cultural Center.
“I want to give people a foundation,” Flowers said. “It’s not just about credit repair, it’s about changing the way you move as a person so you can collect generational wealth.”
One observation from Flowers is that many young people don’t have an opportunity to witness financial responsibility firsthand. She lamented how in her schooling, including college, financial literacy was not an educational component of her learning. Flowers said that many people will pay thousands to fix their credit score, but do so without understanding the basics and return to their original predicament.
Flowers said she was “alarmed” when the Daily Journal reported, citing the 2020 Census, that Rockingham has a 28.4% poverty rate, compared to a 13.6% poverty rate for the state of North Carolina.
“Financial literacy is needed with a rate that high,” Flowers said. “If we could start with the youth, then we could have more responsible adults. I want to teach people life-sustaining skills.
Through the Foundation, Flowers wants to start a summer program that will target youth for financial literacy learning next summer.
Flowers, who is also the founder of Party Bus Express, can be reached at [email protected]
“[Financial literary is] information that can help this community,” Flowers said. “Twenty-eight percent? That’s pretty bad for a poverty rate. I want to try and get to the youth and the adults that are willing to learn, and maybe start a brighter future around here.”
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Reach Matthew Sasser at 910-817-2671 or [email protected]
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