Lorraine and Kenneth Decker
The founders of S4L, Kenneth and Lorraine Decker are award winning financial planning educators. They have helped thousands of families attain financial goals and become financially independent. The Deckers thought that with the help of dedicated volunteers, they could educate and mentor goal oriented working poor families and teens. Volunteers could train the families on how to increase their income, build assets, learn computer skills and acquire a working knowledge of practical finance. With these skills and others, families could permanently break the cycle of poverty.
Ellen Liu
Ellen Liu is the founder and current president of both Youth for Skills for Living and a local branch of this organization in James E. Taylor High School, where she is a senior this year. She started Y4S4L after volunteering as a Team Leader in Skills for Living’s Real Life program. During Real Life, she tutored and mentored at-risk high school students in topics ranging from student loans to job interviews in order to improve college, career, and financial literacy. After the program though, she realized that when the students returned to school, they would have to handle coursework and jobs and might forget what they’d learned in Real Life. Thus, she formed Y4S4L to help Real Life graduates apply their life-skills knowledge during the academic year and pass that knowledge on to their peers.