GenFKD Kicks Off Academic Year Holding Higher Ed Accountable

Millennial organization addresses shortcomings of educational model for modern economy; Co-Founder Justin Dent Named Executive Director

NEW YORK, Sept. 21st, 2016 – GenFKD, or “Generation Financial Knowledge Development” launched the 2016-2017 academic year building a model curriculum of how higher education must evolve to meet the needs of the 21st Century economy.

The three-year-old organization sponsors student representatives on 26 campuses nationwide who are actively running financial literacy education programs and developing a formal curriculum for in-class or on-campus instruction, to address entrepreneurship, self-employment, economic policy and pocketbook economics.

As the new academic year kicked off, GenFKD’s co-founder, Justin Dent, a native of New York City’s Harlem and recent graduate in Public Policy of the University of Maryland, was named Executive Director while co-founder, Jesse Jacobs, a 2014 graduate of Elon University in Strategic Communications North Carolina, becomes Creative Director.

For Dent, the organization’s mission is deeply personal. “I grew up in a community where people believed in the power of education,” Dent said. “There were too many people like me who fell through the cracks finding academic and career opportunities, and it’s mission to change that dynamic through educational reform.”

Digital outreach is the keystone of the organization’s effort to prepare students for real world jobs and taxes. GenFKD, a 501(c)(3), is vastly expanding its new media strategy, generating original video content, distributed via its extensive social media platforms.

“We bring workforce readiness into the conversation through video storytelling,” said David Grasso, a former television journalist and graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and GenFKD’s new Multimedia Editor. “We leverage real-world stories to talk directly to students about common-sense economics. We believe that financial literacy begins on a personal level, and helps young adults understand broader economic policies, the regulatory environment, and tax structures that promote job and business growth.”

Founded in 2014, GenFKD also serves as a digital platform to foster awareness about the gap between education and employment in the 21st Century. “We offer students more tools to succeed, while advocating for changing a higher education system that is clearly behind the times,” Dent said.

“From cost-of-living calculators to on-campus speakers who are winners of ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’ contestants, we try to bring the role of business, entrepreneurship, economic and tax policy and true career preparation to the forefront, not the plot of Hollywood movies,” Dent explained.

For more information on the organization, visit GenFKD.org or contact david@genfkd.org for interview requests with GenFKD’s leadership or any of the student fellows on 26 college campuses in seven states and the District of Columbia.

Justin Dent