Wells Fargo fused cooking with financial literacy in classes held last week in New York City’s historic East Harlem, also known as El Barrio.
Why it matters: The latest financial outreach comes as U.S. Latino buying power has grown to $3.6 trillion, but reports show many Latinos lack retirement accounts and other financial assets needed to build wealth.
Zoom in: A series of “Sabor y Sabiduría: Flavorful Lessons in Financial Literacy” at e.terra Kitchen brought together local Latinas, Wells Fargo staff and Harlem’s Frances Roman, owner and head chef at Cocotazo.
- The Latinas made traditional Puerto Rican dishes while Wells Fargo staff brought up ideas to help build wealth.
What they’re saying: “It’s a powerful combination. And what we’re trying to do is marry these concepts,” Patty Juarez, executive vice president and head of Hispanic and Latino affairs at Wells Fargo, tells Axios.
- Juarez says Latinas tend to open up and listen when they cook, so it was a perfect time to bring up why families should consider saving money, improving credit scores, and investing.
- “We are sharing the ingredients for their financial success, while we’re sharing ingredients to make guava wings.”
Zoom out: This event is part of Wells Fargo’s Banking Inclusion Initiative, a 10-year plan to accelerate access to affordable bank accounts and financial education for the over 5.9 million unbanked and 18.7 million underbanked U.S. households, many of them Latino.
- Juarez says the bank is considering doing more classes like the ones in East Harlem because they were successful.
The intrigue: A report from Bank of America, in partnership with UCLA and California Lutheran University, attributes the rise in Latino GDP mainly to the economic output of Latinas.
- The 2021 U.S. Latina GDP was $1.3 trillion, up from $661 billion in 2010, and about 5.6% of the overall U.S. GDP, the analysis of the latest available data determined.
What we’re watching: The U.S. Latino economy is expected to surpass Japan’s economy by 2024 and Germany’s by 2027.
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