CAVU Impact Partner: Boys & Girls Club Teen Heads to New York Fashion Week
CAVU Securities is proud to introduce Boys and Girls Club of America (BGCA) as our newest nonprofit partner and one of our 2023 Impact Pledge recipients. As a part of our CAVU Impact Pledge and Capital Markets Commitment, we donate 10% of gross revenues from money fund share classes and capital market deal fees to nonprofit partners serving veterans and other underserved communities.
Every year, BGCA provides safe places for 3.6 million children and teens to learn, grow, and gain valuable life experience. For more than 100 years, BGCA has provided hope and opportunity to young people and especially those that come from underrepresented communities. To see the impact that BGCA has on the lives of its members, look no further than 13-year old Langston. The budding designer dreamed of taking the world of fashion by storm and BGCA helped him make that dream a reality.
His journey began when he joined Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan’s Industry Club, a program designed to introduce teens to the realities of entrepreneurship and to help them develop the skills they need to launch successful businesses of their own. The Club was able to provide Langston with education via real-world experience that immersed him in both the design and business sides of the fashion industry. As Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan President and CEO Shawn H. Wilson says, “Our mission is to ensure our youth are career, start-up, and homeowner ready.”
One important component of Langston’s Industry Club experience was the opportunities he received to learn from and work with experienced fashion designers. According to Wilson, this is an essential part of the program’s success. “It’s so important for our youth, especially youth of color, to find mentors who they can connect to and who have similar lived experiences,” he says.
Langston’s hard work paid off when Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan partnered with New York-based fashion brand Maison Black to pair five young African American fashion entrepreneurs with established designers. The pairs worked together to bring the teens’ runway visions to life during New York Fashion Week in February 2023.
Langston’s mother, Jaqueline, says “This experience has boosted his self-confidence. He is engaging in articulate conversations where he successfully delivers the purpose of the brand and explains the benefits of the Boys and Girls Club. Seeing my son display such confidence and joy is awe inspiring. I am beyond proud.”