Breaking Barriers, Making History, and Advocating for Youth<\/strong><\/p>\nAt the age of 18, while a student at SUNY\u2013Orange County Community College, Roy Paul campaigned for a seat on the Middletown Board of Education. \u201cI had no idea how to run and didn\u2019t think I\u2019d win, but thought it would be a great experience,\u201d says Paul, who recalls the \u201cwonderful time\u201d he had knocking on doors, showing up at baseball games, and talking to people. He won by 26 votes. Having turned 19 by election night, he was \u201cthe youngest African American in New York State elected to anything,\u201d he says, adding that his interest in politics dated back to high school, when he got involved in a statewide debate on educational standards.<\/p>\n
ABC covered the story on the trail-blazing teen, which led to Paul\u2019s part-time work as a political commentator for the network. While attending SUNY as a political science major, Paul also juggled a job as a reporter on the political beat for Midhudsonnews.com, covering stories throughout the Hudson Valley and New York region. \u201cI made news and covered news,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
While serving on the Board of Education, an unpaid position, Paul succeeded in changing members\u2019 five-year terms to three years, which he felt was \u201cmore democratic.\u201d During his time there, board ballots were also made available to voters in Spanish and Italian.<\/p>\n
Born to parents from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Paul attended elementary school in the Bronx during a time when the rival Bloods and Crips gangs were making news of their own. \u201cWhen a classmate was slashed on the face–the victim of a gang initiation rite–my mother decided it was time for us to move upstate,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Why did Paul choose to transfer to Queens College after earning his associate\u2019s degree? \u201cI looked at many colleges,\u201d he replies. \u201cI wanted affordability and a real campus.\u201d Naturally, Paul joined politically active student clubs while earning his BA in political science, citing Maureen Pierce-Anyan (Director, Minority Student Affairs) and Michael Krasner (Political Science) as strong influences. \u201cProfessor Krasner even encouraged me to run for the state legislature in 2016,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t win but didn\u2019t lose,\u201d declares Paul, revealing his philosophy that every experience is a learning opportunity.<\/p>\n
Soon after graduation, Paul was hired as the legislative and community relations director for the Jamel Robinson Child Welfare Reform Initiative, an advocacy organization for youth in foster care. Much of the focus was on helping those who had \u201caged out\u201d of foster care at 18 and had nowhere to go. \u201cI was hired to move the advocacy to outreach and action,\u201d says Paul, who served for six years. This meant building an infrastructure–email lists, newsletters, monthly meetings\u2014to mobilize volunteers to demonstrate, write letters, and lobby elected officials. Since many teens from foster care end up in the sex industry, Paul is especially proud that the organization\u2019s work helped pass the Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014, which President Obama signed into law.<\/p>\n
Now the executive director of the nonprofit Cents Ability, Inc., Paul aims to strongly promote its mission to teach teenagers about personal finance. \u201cWhen I was that age, I received promotions for credit cards but had no idea what I signed up for,\u201d he recalls. Dedicated to educating and empowering high school students to be \u201cinformed managers of their financial resources,\u201d Cents Ability held 500 classes last year, reaching nearly 3,000 students\u2014most from low-income communities in all five boroughs and the greater metro area.<\/p>\n
The organization relies on over 300 volunteer teachers, mainly retirees and employees from the financial industry, and holds classes days, evenings, and weekends at schools, community centers, and partner sites such as the YMCA. The courses, which cover basics on budgets, credit scores, saving, and investing, can last a week or be offered in short segments.<\/p>\n
\u201cRaising money is one of my greatest challenges,\u201d says Paul, \u201cbut I\u2019m determined to keep increasing the number of students we reach.\u201d At the helm since July 2017, Paul is already making inroads. After the New York Times published an article on Cents Ability in January 2018, he received 700 emails. \u201cI\u2019d like Cents Ability to become known nationwide as the organization that builds financial literacy among young people,\u201d says Paul.<\/p>\n
For this 30-year-old who\u2019s been breaking barriers since his adolescence, achieving that ambitious goal looks promising.<\/p>\n
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Name: Roy PaulMajor: MA, Media Studies and Communications, New School University; BA, Political Science, Queens CollegeGraduation Year: 2010Company: Cents Ability, Inc.Title: Executive Director “Raising money is one of my greatest challenges, but I\u2019m determined to keep increasing the number of students we reach.”- Roy Paul Student Profiles Alumni Profiles Faculty Profiles Staff ProfilesBreaking Barriers, Making […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"page_category":[],"wf_page_folders":[164,137],"class_list":["post-1009","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1009"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1821,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1009\/revisions\/1821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"page_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page_category?post=1009"},{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=1009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}