Latin School of Chicago

Latin Magazine Summer 2019

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As I thought about my experiences over all those years — college, throughout high school, back to Chicago where I was now working — I thought about how can I take the next step to move my family forward. And I said I was going to pour everything into this young girl. I don't have any kids right now, so she gets spoiled, but I became the uncle that was going to buy her more functional gifts and not just toys. I bought her books to read, a globe so she can think about traveling the world, I started a college savings plan so she wouldn't have to face some of the financial challenges that I had in college. And the most profound moment came about two years ago, I decided to buy Kaydence shares in Nike, Apple and Disney. To explain to her what that meant, I walked her into each store in Chicago on Michigan — Niketown, Apple Store and Disney Store. At the time they were right next to each other. And I said, "Kaydence, you own this store now. Everything here is yours — the toys, the dolls, the basketballs, the laptops, the phones. Everything here is yours. is cashier works for you." e cashier didn't find that as funny as I thought it was. And then Kaydence responds, "Cool, Uncle Ren. Do I get free stuff now?" I said, "It doesn't quite work that way, Kaydence. You're a shareholder, not a thief." But then she said, "Uncle Ren, do I make money when people buy stuff?" She's 8 years old at this point. I said, "You kind of do, let me explain that." A couple of weeks later, I said, "Kaydence, how are you doing? Have you looked up your stocks to see how they're doing?" "Yep, I want some more." "Well what do you want? More of what you already have or do you want a different stock?" Now I can talk to her about diversification. She said, "I want Starbucks." I said, "Why?" What 8-year-old wants Starbucks? She said, "Well, my mommy buys coffee from there all the time, and I saw that their stock was up today." Good enough for me. I get Kaydence some Starbucks stock. A couple weeks later she's in a Starbucks with her mother, my sister, and she grabs her mother by the arm and says, "Mommy, you know I own this place a little bit." It was at that time that I had this very simple, yet magnificent idea. I said if I can get an 8-year-old to think about ownership from the simple act of giving her shares, then why can't I do that with 10 more kids, a 100 more, 1,000 more. Keeping with the theme of No Limits, that's exactly what I set out to do. I started an organization called One Stock One Future with the mission to turn 1 million underserved youth into public company shareholders. We do that by teaching basic classes about what it Calling all Roman writers! Alumni, students, faculty and staff...if you have a story to share, please submit it for consideration to Latin Magazine. We are now accepting stories for the Winter 2020 issue. Submissions may not be longer than 750 words and can be sent to info@latinschool.org. We look forward to hearing from you! means to own stock. en the nonprofit donates shares to each kid with the goal to provide a sense of hope, inspiration, empowerment and opportunity. We partner with nonprofits, government agencies, schools, religious organizations, sports teams — we don't discriminate. I want to turn every child into a shareholder. I want to change children's sense of self and belonging. I want them to better understand their place in this world and the value that they bring to it. I want to change behaviors at home, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, their ultimate relationship with money, how they think about jobs and entrepreneurship, and simply being better citizens. And last, but certainly, not least, I want to change the conversations that we have with children. We can talk to them now about economics, money and wealth, but we can also talk about fairness, inclusion, social justice, equity. In just 68 years and three generations, just within my family, we went from picking cotton in the field to picking stocks on the weekend. Sharecropper to shareholder. Every one of you in this room has a Kaydence somewhere in your life. Imagine a world where every child believes that they are an owner and that they belong. ere's a lot more work to do, but I believe we can change the world and the future one stock at a time. To view Rendel Solomon's TEDx, visit www.sharecroppertoshareholder.com. 15 LATIN MAGAZINE » SUMMER 2019 If I can get an 8-year-old to think about ownership from the simple act of giving her shares, then why can't I do that with 10 more kids, a 100 more, 1,000 more? LATIN MAGAZINE » SUMMER 2019 LATIN MAGAZINE » SUMMER 2019

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