Business
Today you get to meet Luke Hohmann - one of the most energetic, thoughtful people I know on the planet. We first met and also worked together during my days in the software industry as an Agile coach. I also had the privilege to help facilitate one of his Budget Games for the city of San Jose - citizens engaged in prioritizing the multi-million dollar city budget by playing a game to spend limited funds on a range of budgetary options. He’s now the Founder and CEO of FirstRoot, Inc., a Benefit Corporation devoted to creating greater economic equality. That’s a very complex problem, and Luke recognizes that it can’t be solved individually - we have to work together to come up with ideas and solutions, and then work together to make them happen. FirstRoot’s approach is to give youth financial literacy in a unique, fun way, through something called Participatory Budgeting. His audacious goal: student groups in 1M schools globally to each budget $1k and watch what happens when youth control $1B in capital. And by the time this episode launches, Luke and his team will have a version of Participatory Budgeting for families so together they can work out plans for money decisions like vacations and charitable giving. Today we’re going to explore how your family and school can tap into the power of Participatory Budgeting to build financial literacy skills and get youth involved in solving problems that matter.