Empowering a Young Man to Influence the Next Generation

“I used the loan as a pivotal tool to help me elevate my life…that’s all money is—a tool. You guys are actually giving us the money to invest back into ourselves.”

OMARI

When Omari turned 18, the financial demands of adulthood hit him hard. Realizing his parents were unable to support him further, he left home.

“I was sleeping in my car in Oakland, [California],” he says.

After moving to Arizona for a fresh start, he struggled to find consistent housing as he searched for a permanent job. He tried living out of a friend’s college dorm and then renting a temporary room through Airbnb.

Still in need of financial support, the California native began searching online for a personal loan. After some digging, he uncovered the Economic Justice Fund (EJF).

A straightforward loan process

Omari decided to apply for a personal loan through EJF.

“Ya’ll responded back,” he says. “I was surprised because applying to other places has been trial and error.”

He says that even though, at the time, his credit score was considered fair, he was constantly receiving loan denial letters. “I was getting denied for receiving too many inquiries,” he says, adding that refinancing his car significantly reduced his credit score by almost 100 points.

“But then I realized that I was still getting denied at a lot of places because it isn’t just about the numbers—it’s your track history with it,” he says. “That’s what I had to learn.”

He said EJF’s entire application process was simple and easy to understand.

“When I got approved, I could see it was a good rate,” he adds, crediting EJF’s fixed interest rate, enabling him to pay down the loan faster. He added that other loan providers he’s encountered were not forthcoming about the terms and fees or the payment process for their loan agreements.

“A lot of these places have you sign the documents, but they won’t really ask for your payment information,” he explains. “And it’s like, how do I pay these people? And then you forget about it…and then they will build a case on you for not paying it back.”

 

Building financial relationships 

Omari received the EJF loan in January 2021 and fully repaid it within two years. He used the funds to pay his rent, car note, and other debts. He says early in the loan process, he realized he wanted to maintain a relationship with EJF, so he committed himself to making all his payments on time and letting the EJF team know in advance if he couldn’t pay that month.

Omari, now 22 years old, says although the EJF loan hasn’t solved all his financial problems, “that month or two where I needed it, that’s where it mattered because I knew I was going to be able to pay off what I had to at the time.”

Over the past two years, he’s been working as an Uber Eats delivery driver. Even though he received a personal loan and not a business one, he says the financial support helped him grow his YouTube business. His channel grew from 44 to 22,000 subscribers in two months, and he’s now generating monthly income from the social network.

“With y’all giving me the loan, it opens up our minds to dealing with things on a business level,” he explains. “I used the loan as a pivotal tool to help me elevate. That’s all money is—a tool. You guys are actually giving us the tools to invest back into ourselves.”

Helping the next generation to understand finances

On his YouTube channel, Omari talks about the impact celebrities and popular culture have on people’s lives today. He hopes more young people learn about money management and opportunities like EJF to understand that they have options to support themselves and their families.

“I didn’t know I could get a loan like this growing up as a young man in Oakland,” he says. “A lot of us, if we just knew about this and could get that $2,000, we wouldn’t go grab a gun and go to the streets.”

He says he’s committed to spreading the word about how young people can build a better relationship with money.

“And I’ll never forget the people who give me an opportunity,” he says.