A Towson-based nonprofit that helps Black women get a handle on their student debt is a finalist at the SXSW Innovation Awards in Austin, Texas, one of the country's most well-known conferences.
SXSW, also known as South by Southwest, gives The Prosp(a)rity Project a chance to get noticed by a large platform of industry insiders. In 2021, the annual conference drew more than 42,400 attendees and its music festival component attracted over 205,500, despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The nonprofit uses a combination of direct assistance and financial literacy classes to help Black women reduce their student debt.
“We've applied to so many big-name things, and usually never make the cut,” Prosp(a)rity Project CEO Briana Franklin said. “It was just such a nice, welcome departure from the norm.”
The Prosp(a)rity Project's flagship 35*2 Free Initiative was nominated for the SXSW award in the social impact category. The program gets its name in part from a statistic that Black women in America collectively carry $35 billion in student loan debt, Franklin said.
Through the initiative, the nonprofit pays $10,000 of a person’s student debt after the debtor completes a financial literacy and education program. The six-month financial coaching class provides a plan for paying down debt and training on how to write a resume and negotiate a salary. The Prosp(a)rity Project is funded primarily by $200,000 in grants from Goldman Sachs' One Million Black Women initiative.
The nonprofit also works to raise awareness among students about the perils of lending and how a college degree may not be for everyone, Franklin said. The group is developing more preventative programs to reach high schoolers and offer alternatives to taking on student debt.
“It’s trying to get susceptible, financially illiterate 18 to 22-year-olds to sign on this magical dotted line, and promising them these benefits, but also jacking up tuition rates and interest year over year,” Franklin said.
More than 50 finalists were selected for the 2023 SXSW Innovation Awards out of a pool of hundreds of entries. The finalist projects will have the opportunity to get in front of conference attendees at the Innovation Awards Finalist Showcase on March 11. Category winners and other honors will be announced at an awards ceremony on March 13.
The Prosp(a)rity Project's work comes amid a push by President Joe Biden to pass a plan that would cancel up to $20,000 of a person’s student loan debt. The proposal is currently blocked by the courts. Even if the proposal passes, Franklin believes there are significant structural problems that make it difficult for students to pay back debt. She pointed to the privatization of Sallie Mae in 1997 as a pivotal moment that made the student debt industry more predatory.
The student debt crisis is also a key factor in the declining enrollment impacting colleges across the country, including at Baltimore universities like the Maryland Institute College of Art.
The 13-person Prosp(a)rity Project mostly operates in the Washington, D.C. region but plans to expand across the nation in New York, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. The company’s fiscal sponsor, Players Philanthropy Fund, is based in Towson.
