For a high school senior, Jackson D. has accomplished quite a lot. At the age of 16, he was a budding internet entrepreneur and he interned at the Wall Street investment management firm Neuberger Berman. Based upon that experience, Jackson started his own private equity firm, Denke Private Equity. At 17, he established the Denke Foundation to share his knowledge of economics and to help introduce financial literacy to the young adults served by the non-profit New Direction for Youth in North Hollywood. It was this unique community service program that caught the attention of KTLA and reporter Kacey Montoya. 

New Directions for Youth provides services and programs to more than 3,000 at-risk youth each year, and Jackson is a regular volunteer. He said, “I wanted to bring more attention to financial literacy to help eliminate the cycle of poverty that traps so many young people, because this is not something that is not often taught in school, and it is essential information to have to build a secure future.”

The original plan was to present the program in person. Due to the pandemic, Jackson has shared the curriculum online. He hopes that the curriculum will some day be taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Click here to download Jackson’s Financial Literacy curriculum, and click here to watch the KTLA story. To read more about Jackson: http://voyagela.com/interview/meet-jackson-denke-denke-private-equity-woodland-hills/