Actualizing MLK’s vision

In remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr., the Society of Black Student Social Workers (SBSSW) at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work will host “Financial Freedom Seminar: Achieving Economic Independence Through Education,” from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 2 in Brown Hall, Room 100.

The event is designed for members of the St. Louis community interested in building wealth, repairing and maintaining good credit, purchasing a home or starting and expanding a business. The event is free, but participants must register by Friday, Jan. 25.

“SBSSW is truly excited about our second annual Financial Freedom Seminar,” said Michele Fontaine, SBSSW co-chair and second-year social work student. “It is an opportunity for us to engage the African-American community and other communities in more than simply remembering the legacy of Dr. King.

“Helping individuals and families of color to sustain themselves and to build their assets will do more than simply increase the size of pocketbooks; it will encourage the much-needed motivation for us to continue to strive for a better life and to pass down to newer generations a psychology of increased self-worth, intensified hunger for achievement, and unwillingness to accept injustice in any form,” Fontaine said.

Seminar participants will be able to choose two workshops from several that include:

“What You Really Need to Know About Credit,” “Qualifying to Buy a Home,” “Becoming Debt-free,” “Don’t Borrow Trouble,” “Wealth Accumulation: What You Need to Know,” “Financial Planning” and “Life After Prison, Who Cares?”

The seminar will begin with a keynote address by Bessie House-Soremekun, Ph.D., founder and CEO of the National Center for Entrepreneurship Inc. (NCE). The NCE is a national, international and regional collaborative of business centers whose main objective is to promote entrepreneurial efficacy and economic growth across the country.

Soremekun, author of “Confronting the Odds: African American Entrepreneurship in Cleveland, Ohio,” is the Public Scholar in African American Studies, Civic Engagement, and Entrepreneurship at Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis.

For more information and to register, call 935-7262 or e-mail specialevents@gwbmail.wustl.edu. Breakfast and lunch is provided.