PERSONAL FINANCE SPECIALIST DR. SALOAM BEY, center, with many of the graduates of the “Understanding and Starting Your Business” program from December 2023; Sheila Clemons, Dianne C. Lemon, Shatel Abram, Darlyn Reaves, Sadir Lee, and Danielle Anderson. (Photo by Dayna Delgado)
African Americans learning all things financial literacy in Dr. Bey’s eight-week program
Safe to say, there currently would be no “Capable Caring Hands” non-medical home care agency business in Pittsburgh if not for Sheila Clemons’ determination and the eight-week “Understanding and Starting Your Business” coaching program offered by Dr. Saloam Bey.
In the world of financial literacy, African Americans are playing catch-up. A TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America) report from 2019 found that in its Personal Finance Index questionnaire, 38 percent of Blacks answered the questions correctly, compared to 55 percent of Whites. The extensive report also found that in 2016, median household income among African Americans was $35,400, compared to $61,200 for Whites; Black household net worth was $17,600 compared to $171,000 for Whites; Black homeownership was reported at 42 percent compared to 66 percent for Whites; Blacks were 32 percent more likely to have been late with a mortgage payment in the past year; and 68 percent of Blacks engaged in expensive credit card behaviors (paying only the minimum due, incurring late payment fees, taking cash advances, etc.) compared to 36 percent of Whites.
DARLYN REAVES WITH DR. SALOAM BEY
Pittsburghers already know the financial disparities here between Blacks and Whites, including Black women earning 54 cents for every dollar a White man earned, according to the now-infamous Gender Equity Report of 2019. Also, only one in three African Americans can call themselves homeowners in Pittsburgh, compared to almost three of four Whites.
A number of African Americans in Pittsburgh are working to get fellow Blacks up to speed with financial literacy. It could be in the form of simple phone calls between friends or professional workshops. Dr. Bey, who grew up primarily in the Hill District, is more than 25 years in on her desire to improve financial literacy for fellow African Americans in Pittsburgh.
On Feb. 27, she received the Barack Obama Legacy Lifetime Achievement Award from the T.I.U.A. School of Business, based in Atlanta. On that evening, the T.I.U.A. School of Business also honored the popular and conscious rapper Killer Mike for his community efforts.
And over the past years, Dr. Bey has held graduation ceremonies for people who have completed her aforementioned “Understanding and Starting Your Business” eight-week coaching program. The New Pittsburgh Courier attended a December 2023 ceremony held at Dr. Bey’s offices in Swissvale.
HOPE WASHINGTON AND SHATEL ABRAM WITH DR. SALOAM BEY (PHOTOS BY DAYNA DELGADO)
Among those who completed the program were: Shatel Abram, Hope Washington, Sheila Clemons, Sadir Lee, Dianne C. Lemon and Danielle Anderson. All are Black women, many of whom are looking to take charge of their financial life, once and for all.
The eight-week program teaches cohort members credit education, financial literacy, how to start and operate a business, marketing techniques, automation principles, a proper mindset, and more.
“I was never taught about credit,” Clemons told the New Pittsburgh Courier in an exclusive interview. Clemons, now 58, said she grew up in the Hill District in low-income housing and didn’t have a two-parent household. “I’m grateful that she (Bey) has afforded the opportunity for us to learn about credit…I followed her directions to a tee on how to get an EIN (Employer Identification Number), how to work on building your credit, and what type of debit/credit cards I need. She taught me about having good, healthy credit for your business.”
SADIR LEE LAUGHS WITH DR. SALOAM BEY
FICO credit scores range from 300 to 850. Anything over 740 is considered “very good” credit, while “poor” credit is classified as 579 or below. “Good” credit starts at 670. For Clemons, four years ago, she told the Courier her credit was…after a pause…470.
Today, it’s 760.
And now, Clemons’ business, Capable Caring Hands, is up and running. She told the Courier she’s had about 15 clients since she opened, everywhere from New Kensington, to Homewood, to the North Side.
Danielle Anderson, another cohort graduate from December 2023, said she wasn’t sure how to start a business before the program. But today, she’s already received her EIN from the Internal Revenue Service. The name of her non-medical home care agency? Ella’s Love Homecare, LLC, named after Anderson’s late grandmother.
“Saloam has shared a lot of personal things as far as things she’s been through, and she wants all of us to win, especially Black women,” Anderson told the Courier exclusively. “She’s just a really positive influence.”
In 1984, when Dr. Bey was 6 years old, her mother, Carolyn Johnson, was killed, Dr. Bey said, by her boyfriend. After things didn’t work out with her biological father, Dr. Bey told the Courier she went to live with her sister in the Hill District for most of her teenage years. She said she eventually settled with her sister into low-income housing on Burrows Street in the Hill, as she graduated from Brashear High School in 1996.
Dr. Bey said circumstances growing up made her think more independently than others her age. At 19, she began researching the ins and outs of financial literacy. Life took her to attend Pittsburgh Job Corps, and then, around age 23, she went into the Air Force. She transitioned to the Army National Guard and remained there until 2008.
Dr. Bey had always taught fellow Pittsburghers about financial literacy since after her high school days, but she also spent time living in Alexandria, Va., from 2006 to 2017. As the owner of “Credit Power, LLC,” Dr. Bey, in February 2018, held an open forum in the Hill District, and more than 100 people attended. There, individuals spoke on the importance of financial literacy, such as representatives from First National Bank, Coldwell Banker, Richard Witherspoon of the Hill District Federal Credit Union, Charlise Smith of the W.A.V.E. (Willissae’s Agency For Vision and Empowerment) and Tammy Thompson, now executive director of Catapult Greater Pittsburgh. That event united her with Diamonte Walker, the former Deputy Executive Director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Greater Pittsburgh. Impressed with her abilities and passion, the URA at the time made Dr. Bey a “technical assistant,” where the URA would refer people to Dr. Bey to learn about everything related to credit.
From the community, for the community, Dr. Bey, 46, said she feels like she’s “living a surreal life…I’m really leading by example. I really am people’s hope,” she said.
Dr. Bey has begun teaching financial literacy to kids in different schools across the city, too. She also heads to Yale University, in Connecticut, to teach students there on finances.
When it comes to the “Understanding and Starting Your Business” coaching program, Dr. Bey said there is a fee associated with being part of a cohort. Anderson told the Courier it was “a very good investment, definitely worth it.”
And Clemons responded: “Break the generational curse. You have to make some sacrifices in order to get to where you want to be.”
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