Latina Marcy Reyes is on a Mission to End the Cycle of Poverty

Marcy Reyes ’12 has been a pioneer in bringing much-needed financial literacy programming to inner city communities in the State of Rhode Island and beyond. She is founder and CEO of The Financial Literacy Youth (FLY) Initiative, a nonprofit that empowers underserved and underrepresented youth with culturally responsive financial education.

As a Puerto Rican woman born into a family with little resources or support networks, Reyes is uniquely suited to understand the challenges of the community she serves.

“I had two working parents who never talked about money or how to manage money,” she says, “and they made some poor financial decisions. I also made a lot of financial mistakes as a young adult. Everything changed when I took a personal finance course at Rhode Island College. 

“Not only did I learn how to manage my personal finances, I decided that when I earned my master’s degree, I was going to come back to Rhode Island College and teach that course because it had been life-changing. I realized that those students sitting next to me were just like me. They had made poor financial decisions because they didn’t have the knowledge. I really wanted other people to have that education.”

Not only did Reyes return to teach personal finance at RIC as an adjunct, in 2018 she founded The FLY Initiative, an organization made up of a team of nine educators who serve over 1,000 program participants a year. Participants include middle school students, high school students, young adults and adults.

“Since the launch of our program, we have impacted over 6,500 participants,” she says. “This year we had an over 118 percent growth in the second quarter alone versus this time last year, and we are rising to the challenge to provide the best-in-class personal finance programming to our participants.”

Programming consists of semester-long in-school courses; a five-day course covering the basics of personal finance; single workshops held on various personal financial topics; summer programming; and one-on-one financial coaching with an AFC® certified consultant.

“In our courses, we emphasize experiential hands-on learning,” Reyes says. “For example, we may ask students to do a bank comparison exercise, where we have them go out and look at banks in their area, do a comparison and make a financial decision.”

“We also bring in community experts on the topics we’re discussing,” she says. “If we’re covering taxes, we’ll bring in CPAs from the community to talk about why it is important for teens to think about taxes. What are the implications if they don’t file taxes? What are the implications if they do? These experts are bringing our students’ learning to life and they become resources for our students in the future. If our students are filing taxes or have a question, they now have someone they can call. Having a financial network is powerful.”

Reyes’ ultimate goal is to put an end to the cycle of generational poverty one individual at a time. She believes that if the next generation learns how to be financially stable, they will build stronger families, neighborhoods and communities.

“We are a product of our environment,” she says. “Families who didn’t have access to resources really don’t know how to empower their children. They don’t know how to talk about money. You’re going to model what you’ve learned from your experiences and you’re going to implement a lot of the same techniques you were taught. You can either perpetuate those habits and attitudes or break those habits and attitudes that are leading to consistent financial struggle.”

When asked, “What is the best way to stay out of debt?” Reyes replies, “Don’t get in it. Live within your means. It’s not always fun and it may not always feel good. You may not be wearing the flashiest clothes, but you’ll sleep better.”

Reyes serves on the Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education and will be presenting the keynote address, along with alumnus José Rosario ’17, at the 2024 RIC Latiné Summit at Rhode Island College on Saturday, Oct. 5. For more information about The FLY Initiative, visit their website.