From Survival to Stability: Why Financial Literacy and Employment Are the Keys to Freedom
 By Patrick M. Young, Director of Economic Empowerment, The First 72+

When people come home from prison, they don't just need a place to sleep, they need a way forward.

At The First 72+, I have the honor of serving as Director of Economic Empowerment, where we believe financial literacy and employment are not just services,they are survival skills. After incarceration, navigating the world of credit scores, bank accounts, resumes, and digital applications can be overwhelming. Many of our clients were locked up before smartphones, before online banking, before automated job portals. They return to a world that has changed, and expect them to catch up overnight.

That's where we come in.

We don't just help people get jobs,we prepare them to keep them. We teach financial literacy with the same urgency as life skills, because it is. A stable job and a basic understanding of budgeting can be the difference between thriving or returning to a system that's all too ready to take them back.

I've seen what happens when someone opens their first bank account, gets their first paycheck, or builds a resume from scratch and walks into a job interview with confidence. I've seen men and women go from unsure and overwhelmed to empowered and employed. That's what economic freedom looks like, and it's what we fight for every day.

But right now, we're up against more than just personal challenges. We're facing political rollbacks, restrictive policies, and a climate that's increasingly hostile to people trying to rebuild after incarceration. We know the system isn't set up to support our folks, but we are.

This GiveNOLA Day, I'm asking you to stand with us.

Your donation helps us provide the tools people need to turn their second chance into a stable, self-sufficient future. It helps fund financial literacy classes, resume building workshops, job readiness boot camps, and one-on-one coaching that builds real confidence. Every dollar supports someone's journey from incarceration to independence.

At The First 72+, we don't believe in throwaway people. We believe in transformation, in second chances, and in economic empowerment as a form of justice.

Donate today, and help us keep the doors of opportunity open for those who've already paid the price.

Together, we build freedom, 72 hours at a time, and for as many chances as it takes.