MACONOMICS FOUNDATION
Maconomics Foundation prepares Chicago students to show up, engage, and build sustainable financial freedom by aligning attendance, effort, skill-building, and opportunity.
MISSION
The Maconomics Foundation equips Chicago students to build sustainable financial freedom by
connecting attendance, effort, and skill-building to real earning opportunities, financial literacy,
and purpose-driven pathways for the future.VISION
We envision a Chicago where young people enter adulthood with confidence, financial agency,
and a self-established foundation that allows them to pursue education, careers, and
entrepreneurship without falling into cycles of debt or economic instability.The BUILD Framework
Maconomics Foundation prepares Chicago students to show up, engage, and build sustainable financial freedom by aligning attendance, effort, skill-building, and opportunity.
B — Bolster Student Attendance through Meaningful Engagement
Create relevant, culturally responsive learning experiences that motivate consistent school and program attendance by tying presence to real opportunity, belonging, and tangible outcomes.
Students are incentivized to show up through access to skill-building, earning opportunities, mentorship, and pathways that reward consistency, effort, and growth.
U — Understand Financial Literacy & Practice Responsible Decision-Making
Equip students with practical financial knowledge and real-world skills that support long-term financial independence.
Students learn budgeting, saving, credit, investing, entrepreneurship, and risk management while actively applying these concepts through earned income, program stipends, micro-enterprise opportunities, and guided investing simulations or accounts.
I — Increase Community Connection & Civic Belonging
Strengthen students’ connection to their communities through service, collaboration, and partnerships that affirm identity, voice, and shared economic responsibility.
Students engage in community-based projects and peer collaboration that reinforce the idea that financial freedom is both personal and collective, rooted in contribution, accountability, and mutual growth.
L — Learn Self-Management & Goal-Setting Skills
Develop executive functioning, emotional regulation, and goal-setting strategies that empower students to manage time, persist through challenges, and track progress toward financial and personal goals.
Students learn how discipline, consistency, and delayed gratification directly translate into earning power, opportunity access, and long-term stability.
D — Develop Purpose-Driven Pathways for Financial Freedom
Align students’ interests, strengths, and values with academic, career, entrepreneurial, and investment pathways that support sustainable, self-sufficient financial futures.
Students graduate with a clear plan and a self-established, maintainable source of funds that supports college, trade school, or workforce entry without reliance on high-interest debt.
Theory of Change
If Chicago students are engaged in culturally responsive, group-based programming that connects consistent attendance and hard work to earned income, financial education, and long-term opportunity, then they will develop the skills, habits, and resources needed to achieve sustainable financial freedom.
By bolstering attendance through meaningful engagement, students show up consistently because presence leads to real opportunity. By understanding financial literacy and practicing responsible decision-making, students learn how money works and how to grow it responsibly. By increasing community connection and civic belonging, students understand their role in building collective economic strength. By learning self-management and goal-setting, students build the discipline required for long-term success. By developing purpose-driven pathways, students align education, careers, entrepreneurship, and investing with a clear financial future.
As a result, students exit the program with practical financial skills, earned funds, and a sustainable plan that enables them to enter college, trade school, or the workforce with confidence, reduced reliance on debt, and a foundation for lifelong economic stability.