Mission

To help youth and families in the El Paso and Las Cruces communities improve their lives by achieving financial independence.

The FirstLight Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation that was founded in 2015, when our Board of Directors and Management team at FirstLight wanted to do more for and give back to our underserved communities. Through strategic analysis, the decision was made to incorporate financial literacy and scholarships as a focus for our foundation, in order to help the youth and families achieve financial independence.

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Scholarship Opportunities

Receiving a college education is an essential piece to help our youth in their quest to become resourceful and productive members of our community. As part of its central focus, the FirstLight Community Foundation offers a Scholarship Program that aims to provide college scholarship opportunities for graduating seniors.

Since the FirstLight Community Foundation is in its infancy stage, we are tasked with the opportunity to build it from the ground up with solid funding, principles, and goals that will sustain this charitable organization for many years to come.

We extend the invitation to you to join us in this journey as we strive for excellence in financial education and to help us forge the way for students in our underserved communities. In an effort to help dreams become a reality, the FirstLight Community Foundation would like to appeal to your generosity in the form of a tax-deductible donation.

As we grow as a local philanthropy, we will ensure that we recognize our supporters at every opportunity that presents itself and that we make it known that we could not achieve our level of success without your generous support.

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Financial Literacy / Education:

The FirstLight Community Foundation believes that it has a social responsibility to play a vital role in the overall financial capability of the communities in which it serves. The reasons for focusing on Financial Literacy, and especially to underserved populations, include:

• To incorporate social change in what we do
• To find new ways to get vulnerable people access to capital
• To be a part of the framework and the driving force behind our community financial literacy efforts

Below are some of the financial literacy programs that help our community achieve financial independence.

• Brighter U is a free, online, self-paced series of interactive videos that cover key financial concepts such as saving, investing, credit scores, mortgages, and identity protection.
• Brighter U 4 Kids is FirstLight's very own financial education course for kids. Through games and simulations, kids will learn about topics such as banking, needs vs wants and investing, just to name a few!
• Financial Seminars  - The FirstLight Community Foundation has partnered with EverFi to bring financial seminars to the communities it serves. A new schedule of seminars is coming soon!

Partnerships

The FirstLight Community Foundation also partners with other organizations, to offer more local financial literacy initiatives.

• Banzai Financial Literacy Program – Sponsorship of the Banzai Financial Literacy Programs at Americas, Bowie and Irvin High schools in El Paso, TX and Mayfield High School in Las Cruces, NM. Banzai is an experiential online financial literacy platform designed to help students learn by doing.
• BizKid$ Entrepreneurship Contest – Over the past three years, we have worked closely with area middle school students in the development of a business product or service and presentation of a business plan to a panel of judges, similar to the TV show, Shark Tank.
• BizKid$ Summer Camp – Provide a one week entrepreneurship camp for 4th-8th grade students in the El Paso area.
• Stock Market Games – Sponsorship of middle and high school students in El Paso, TX who participate in a stock market simulation game in both the Fall and Spring semester in coordination with the Texas Council on Economic Education.
• Career Days at Local Schools – Conduct outreach with local districts by participating in school sponsored Career Days throughout the city with our mascot, Dollar Dog, to help teach students the importance of financial education.
• Money Smart Week (MSW) El Paso – Serve as a partner and sponsor of the Money Smart Week public awareness campaign, designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances. Services are provided to over 3,000 community members on a yearly basis.
• Military Saves Week – Annual opportunity to promote good savings behavior and a chance for service members and their families to assess their own saving status.