Save Up Program

The RISE Foundation announced their most recent graduating class on November 8, 2019 at the Benjamin Hooks Main Library.  A total of 12 committed RISER's invested in themselves and their families by enduring five weeks of intense personal financial training and started personal savings accounts with Paragon Bank.  In attendance to celebrate their milestones were over 30 of their close friends and family members.  

Community Development Officer, Nancy Walls represented Paragon Bank which was the host bank for this cohort. She gracefully welcomed our participants as new customers, and spoke about Paragon's history and services.  Paragon Bank was also responsible for the evening's refreshments and sponsored the catering for the event.  

Graduates were impressed by the wealth of information they received by the two invited speakers, Freda Turner and Ken Harrison.  Freda is with Memphis Area Legal Services and spoke to the class about lawful rights as current renters and best practices when renting a house or apartment. She also spoke about the multitude of services offered by Memphis Area Legal Services.  Entrepreneur and Investor Ken Harrison gave a passionate talk about perseverance and overcoming barriers on the road to homeownership and success in general.

Through the Save Up program, graduates are able to transform their lives by obtaining critical financial literacy skills that help them build assets and make better financial choices for their families.  Graduating from Save Up is such a sweet success because they are then able to take the resources, techniques and partnerships that they acquired through RISE and teach their friends, neighbors and family members. 

The RISE Save Up program helps to break the cycle of generational poverty one family at a time and your donation directly supports those efforts.  Please consider making a monthly donation to the Save Up program today to ensure that program participants will never be without the much needed programming services and education classes that leads them to a life of financial self-sufficiency.