The Youth Growth Stock Trust Committee, administered by the United Way of Cumberland County, has approved Money Box Academy’s grant request for the Money In Motion: Youth Financial Empowerment and Economic Mobility Initiative Program for the 2026 to 2027 funding cycle. With this funding, Money Box Academy will be able to expand its programming to help increase financial literacy among young people in Cumberland County. 

“A very common thing we see is…students that are graduating from high school that know about photosynthesis, and they know how to find what X is, and they know all these things but they were never taught how to manage their money, so then they go off to college and they make all these big financial decisions, like I did, without any guidance, because no one ever taught them this,” shared Founder and President of Money Box Academy Inc. Crystal McLean. 

Money Box Academy received $10,000 from United Way’s Youth Growth Stock Trust. They were selected out of a competitive pool of applicants. 

“Youth programming has been really a very important part of the United Way in Cumberland County, pretty much since our inception,” shared Executive Director of United Way of Cumberland County Scott Embry. “It’s really a lot of competition every year for those funds…and Crystal and her team, I mean, Money Box, it’s just something not everybody’s doing... She’s doing something that’s so impactful, but it’s not really got any duplication, and that’s one of the primary things we’re looking for.”

Money Box Academy officially launched in October 2024 to provide accessible, barrier-free financial literacy education — especially for students in Cumberland County, but ultimately across all ages — so that people can make informed financial decisions and avoid entering adulthood without basic money management skills. Thus far, around 4,200 individuals have benefited from Money Box Academy’s programming.

“Our goal is to expand programming… we have a high school boot camp program. We have a middle school boot camp that’s coming up, because one of the parents said there are a lot of organizations that do a lot of things for high schoolers and elementary, but they forget about the middle schoolers, so we’re doing something for middle schoolers…We want to do a financial summit in August, which is for different people in the community, from entrepreneurs, adults, youth and college students, so that they all continue to get that programming and resources that are attributed to their finances. So this money will really help us expand programming,” shared McLean.

Moneybox Academy delivers free financial literacy programs directly in schools across Cumberland County, using formal initiatives, organic relationships with school staff and partnerships with embedded nonprofits, plus social media and community outreach to make sure students can easily access their programs. 

“We just have a lot of confidence [in] Crystal and what she’s doing. She’s just a real gift for this community, and to have the opportunity to partner with her, we feel good about it, our donors feel good about it and our partners feel good about programs that make huge impacts in the lives of children in this community, and she’s a shining star of what that looks like,” added Embry. 

Money Box Academy is preparing to launch a second High School Financial Bootcamp at Fayetteville Technical Community College this month, June 8-12, following last year’s inaugural session that was covered by local news. They are also partnering with the City of Fayetteville and Cumberland County Parks and Recreation Department this summer to bring financial literacy to summer interns across the county.

In addition to youth programming, Money Box Academy provides services to adults, seniors and other vulnerable populations in need of financial education. While the funding from United Way is specifically for youth programming, Money Box Academy also received a $3500 microgrant from Cumberland County to assist in providing programming to other groups of people. 

“Our biggest focus is intergenerational financial literacy, so we start as young as kindergarten; we go all the way up to our seniors and our elders. We extend out to our entrepreneurs, Veterans, active duty and even justice-involved individuals that are getting out of a prison sentence, and they may have been in 10 years or 12 years, and they don’t know Cash App, they don’t know Zelle…so who is teaching them how to be able to be reintegrated into society to be able to hopefully reduce recidivism?” explained McLean. “We are planning something for senior citizens, which is a digital financial readiness lab, because a lot of people don’t teach senior citizens how to manage their money and how not to be scammed out of their money.” 

Another way Money Box Academy is removing barriers to financial education is through the addition of the new Director of Bilingual Programs & Community Engagement, Mary Samantha Angarita. Angarita will help make sure that individuals whose native language is not English still have access to the education they need to make smart financial decisions.

McLean’s work throughout the city and the county has been widely recognized for filling a gap in our community’s educational offerings. Just recently, the City of Fayetteville issued a proclamation designating April as Financial Literacy Month. This proclamation is the city putting its name behind the idea that financial education is not optional; it is essential.

To make sure everyone has access to this important education, Money Box Academy works to provide these programs free of charge. 

“Our goal is to be able to procure grants like the United Way grant and like the City of Fayetteville grants and [Cumberland County grant] so that no person in the seat has to pay to be there. Our goal is to also make sure there’s barrier-free entry, so that there’s nothing stopping them,” shared McLean.

To learn more about Money Box Academy, go to www.moneyboxacademy.org.