Living Up to the Legacy

The Cummings Scholar Program gives HBCU students the keys to financial and professional success

The true greatness of a person is determined by what they leave behind. Legacy is everything. And so, when you speak about the late great Congressman Elijah Cummings, you may think about his public service to the people.

Cummings was an advocate for Maryland residents for 13 years as a member of the Maryland house of delegates and 23 years as a congressman in Maryland’s 7th district. That is why Wells Fargo intends to keep his legacy alive with the Cummings Scholars program that bears his name.

The Cummings Scholars Program is a six-week paid internship program where students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) work with nonprofit organizations to improve the financial health of their communities. Students learn valuable life skills about budgeting, saving, credit building, home ownership and business development.

The program, sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank and orchestrated by HomeFree-USA and its Center for Financial Advancement®, has been in place for the past four years. At the beginning, the program was focused solely on students in the Baltimore, Maryland area and at Cummings’s alma mater, Morgan State University. In 2022 the Cummings Scholars Program expanded into nine states and provided vital employment resources to 19 nonprofit organizations.

“Wells Fargo created this program with Congressman Cummings and HomeFree-USA because we identified intersections between communities, nonprofits, and HBCU students,” says Monica Mitchell, Lead Social Impact Specialist for Wells Fargo. “Nonprofits need more resources to support their communities; many college students of color need income now to finish school, and they need the financial capability to build wealth long-term. On top of addressing all those needs, the program provides practical career development for students. It’s an incredible tribute to the Honorable Elijah Cummings’s life and legacy.”

Equipping students for financial success

Gwendolyn Garnett, Executive Director of the Center for Financial Advancement® at HomeFree-USA, explains how the program’s credit-building and professional development helps to prepare young people for financial success.

“In some cases, credit is key to getting a job,” Garnett says. Some companies will look at your credit before they will hire you. The mindset is ‘if you can’t manage your own finances, how can you manage whatever responsibilities we are going to hire you for.’”

Taelor Ferguson, a Center for Financial Advancement® scholar who attended North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina avoided making some of the same money mistakes as her peers thanks to the program.

“Most college students were thinking about what to buy for their room or how to spend their money,” she says. “But the program taught me to think about how money could affect my future, particularly the value of building credit and saving.”

The Cummings Scholars Program has several goals:

• • Create more paid jobs and internships for HBCU students.
  • Develop a diverse pipeline of young business professionals who will excel in the workplace.
  • Expose students to career opportunities.
  • Provide free help to nonprofit organizations who work hard to change their communities.

But there are many other benefits to the program.

 “I love the focus on homebuying, public speaking, interviewing techniques, and the confidence building gained through these work experiences,” says Chardonnay Lee, a senior at Morgan State University, who is in her fourth year as a Cummings Scholar.

Lee met executives with such companies as Wells Fargo, Truist and Experian. She also got internships with nonprofit organizations Upton Planning Committee and Belair Edison through Center for Financial Advancement®. All in all, the experience opened up a pool of opportunities for her.

Today she continues to work with Center for Financial Advancement® as a program analyst. In that role, she facilitates two internship programs – one Center for Financial Advancement® does with Wells Fargo and the other with Freddie Mac.

Ferguson also made valuable contacts while she was a Center for Financial Advancement® Scholar. For example, through Center for Financial Advancement®, she got an internship with Rocket Mortgage, which ultimately led to a full-time role as a refinance mortgage loan officer once she graduated.

Today she works with HomeFree-USA as a client relationship manager. “I work with first-time homebuyers and homeowners that are looking to purchase a second property,” she says. “I help them get started by showing them how HomeFree-USA can guide them on their journey.”

HomeFree-USA is an African American founded nonprofit organization that through its collaborative network helps diverse families navigate the homeownership process through education, inspiration and personal guidance.

Finding Career Satisfaction Through Center for Financial Advancement®

As a sophomore at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, Jessica Carney-Perks was always looking for experiences that would enrich her life. When she heard about the Center for Financial Advancement® through her school’s Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement, she knew their programming fit the bill.

Carney-Perks’ experience with Center for Financial Advancement® also opened her eyes to new career opportunities. While attending the Money4Life Leadership Summit, a conference that develops diverse leaders for the real estate finance industry, she met Amber Lawrence, Associate Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at the Mortgage Bankers Association. They were looking for an intern to work in their DEI office and she was selected. In the process, she realized that you could have a major impact on the mortgage industry even if you’re not crunching numbers. In her role, “we add value to not only the people that are looking to be serviced by these organizations, but the people providing the services,” she says.

The program also has changed the scholars’ perceptions about homeownership. They no longer see it as something that may happen years in the future; they see it as a potential reality today. Lee envisions herself becoming a homeowner during the next five years, and she hopes to use the leadership skills she learned through Center for Financial Advancement® to inspire her peers.

“My advice to other young people is if there’s not a seat at the table, either pull a seat up or create your own table,” she says. “The world is constantly changing and the one person you need to make sure you take care of is you, and you need to be prepared financially to do that. It’s really important to start as soon as possible to understand what it means to be financially free.”

Cummings would have been proud of his scholars – and so are we.