This Black Women’s Tech Startup Was Just Awarded A $10,000 JPMorgan Chase Grant

This Black Women’s Tech Startup Was Just Awarded A $10,000 JPMorgan Chase Grant


WealthyLife, a tech startup focused on ending poverty through financial literacy, won a $10,000 grant from the JPMorgan Chase to develop a financial literacy mobile app.

The grant was awarded during the financial inclusion innovation competition at the 2016 Color of Wealth Summit held by the Center for Global Policy Solutions (CGPS).

“As an entrepreneurial team of black women, we’ve experienced firsthand the challenges underrepresented communities face when it comes to financial inclusion and access to capital, so we’re thrilled and thankful to CGPS and the JPMorgan Chase,” said Angel Rich who co-founded WealthyLife along with Courtney Keen and Shyaam Sundhar.

With the grant, the WealthyLife team will turn its online app CreditStacker into a mobile app.

CreditStacker is a financial education game described as “an innovative financial play on credit reports. The pieces will look and feel like credit items, accumulating over your life span to impact your credit score and net worth,” on the company’s site.

The additional capital will allow WealthyLife to offer CreditStacker as a mobile app and add features including animation and levels to make the user experience interactive and engaging.

As with the Web app, the CreditStacker mobile game will teach players how to manage various types of credit, interpret a credit report, achieve good credit, and avoid the risks associated with debt.

CreditStacker will be offered for free in 28 cities as part of ConnectHome, a public-private collaboration to bring affordable broadband access, technical training, digital literacy, and electronic devices to underserved communities.

“This grant will help us bring CreditStacker to the people who need it as a mobile app, furthering our mission to provide equal access to financial literacy for everyone,” said Rich.

“JPMorgan Chase’s philanthropic work supports a range of programs to help people, particularly those from low- and moderate-income communities increase savings, improve credit, reduce financial shocks, and build assets,” said Janis Bowdler, managing director, Financial Capability, Community Development, and Small Business, JPMorgan Chase.

WealthyLife was the winner among four other finalists including Working Solutions, PayActiv, and the Latino Economic Development Center.

 


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