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The skills school doesn't teach but life always requires.
Youth Literacy Alliance exists to give students access to the real-world literacies they deserve: financial, health, legal, and beyond.
Our story
It started as one club
In the words of founder Fox Weber.
Youth Literacy Alliance began as a finance club I founded at NYC Lab School. I wanted to teach financial literacy because it's a skill every student needs, yet almost none are taught. As the club grew, I saw how much students benefited from clear, accessible lessons, so I started wondering how I could help even more people.
To understand what students needed, I sent out surveys. The results were eye-opening. Teens weren't just struggling with financial literacy, they were struggling with multiple essential literacies that schools rarely cover.
This is when the idea grew to something greater.
I created Youth Literacy Alliance to give students access to the real-world literacies they deserve: financial, health, legal, and beyond. What started as one club became a broader mission, helping students learn the skills school doesn't teach but life always requires.
Where it started
NYC Lab School
A finance club, founded by a student, that grew into an alliance once the surveys came back.
Written by
Fox Weber
Founder and director. The story above is Fox's own account of how the alliance started.
Mission
Real-world literacies, taught by students
Students should not have to find out what a paycheck deduction is, or what their rights are, by getting it wrong first.
Taught by students
The people teaching it are close in age to the people learning it. That was true of the first club and it is still the model.
Built on what students asked for
The expansion beyond finance came from surveying students, not from guessing what they needed.
Free, and in your school
Everything we run in person happens through an official chapter at a school, led by students and working through the curriculum across the year. We do not run separate one-off workshops.
The programs
Two running now
The mission covers financial, health, legal, and beyond. These are the two alliances operating today.
YFLA
Youth Financial Literacy Alliance. The original club, now a program. Free calculators for take-home pay, budgets, saving, and compound growth, plus written explainers.
YLLA
Youth Legal Literacy Alliance. Civic, digital, workplace, and youth rights, advocacy, and real-world scenarios.
The team
Meet the team
Small on purpose, and growing. Everyone here is a student.
Fox Weber
Founder and Director
Sophomore, NYC Lab School
Hey! I'm Fox, a sophomore at Lab and the founder and director of YFLA. I have always loved math as a kid, which led me to discovering a passion for finance in 2021. Now, I teach people financial literacy to prepare them for everything finance related so they are ready for the real world.