Kids from 11 area schools participate in the first meeting of a financial literacy program started by Clinton Bush at City Kidz Ice Cream Cafe on Main Street in Springfield. The program, which meets Air Jordan 12s on Saturday mornings, kicked off Nov. 21.

Corey Hurst (left), 17, of Andrew Jackson High School collects play money from Michael Carter (right), 14, of Paxon High School, in a game of Cash Flow for Kids.

Whenever Amber Evans gets her allowance, you won’t catch her spending it to build her shoe collection.

That’s probably because she’s using it toward building her future.

Amber, a 16 year old Stanton Air Jordan 4s College Preparatory School student, said she wants to become an ophthalmologist. She also wants to own a pharmacy. She knows that will take money.

Which is why she, as well as 23 other youths, have been spending their Saturday mornings at City Kidz Ice Cream Cafe as part of a 12 week financial literacy boot camp. The program teaches kids and teens the importance of making their money work for them, not just working to make money.

“[My friends] say I’m cheap, and that I don’t like to spend a lot of money, because they’ll go and spend, like, maybe a ridiculous amount on some shoes,” Amber said. “But I’ll take that money and save it. . I’m tempted to spend, but I know that since I’ve gotten stocks [in Nike] . every time my friends buy Nikes, I make money.”

That’s the kind of thinking that City Kidz owner Clinton Bush tries Air Jordan 10s to instill in the young people who are enrolled in the boot camp.

Bush, who is originally from Philadelphia, opened his ice cream cafe and delicatessen last summer in a Historic Springfield Air Jordan CDP housing and business complex on Third and Main streets. Besides opening a business, Bush also wanted to give back by grooming young people who either live in the inner city or attend school there.

So he started the financial literacy boot camp in September.

“When I was growing up, our parents did not have the resources, or even the knowledge, to begin to teach Afro Americans anything about financial literacy,” Bush said. “Fortunately, for me and my brother, who is my partner, we always gravitated toward business. . When we were 14 and 15, we used to run around the neighborhood with our suits on, and with our briefcases.”

Before opening the ice cream cafe, Bush was teaching financial literacy to youths by way of a faith based grant from the city. But now that the cafe has opened, Bush said he’s funding the program out of his own pocket.

While it is open to all youths regardless of color, the program has a special relevancy for black youths. According to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, the wealth gap between the black and white communities continues to grow; for every dollar of wealth held by white people, black people hold a dime.

While the reasons for the gap are complex, involving everything from the lingering effects of discrimination to the economic downturn, Bush believes a contributing factor is a preoccupation with consumerism and a lack of financial knowledge.

“Our theme this year is how to go to college debt free and how to graduate debt free,” Air Jordan 11s Bush said.

“But the biggest thing we’re teaching them is entrepreneurship. . It’s good to have a great job, but you need to own the business so that you can be in charge of your financial future.”

On a recent Saturday, the cafe was humming not just with hungry customers, but with kids like Amber who were learning how to take charge of their futures.

They were deep into playing “Cash Flow for Kids,” a board game that teaches them financial terms and, to some extent, strategies.

“They learn real quickly, which is good so that we can move them into reading real financial statements and balance sheets, and then move them over to the entrepreneurial side,” Bush said.

Once they graduate from the classroom instruction, Bush said, he employs them on weekends at City Kidz on a rotating basis. It gives them a chance to see up close how a business is run.

“They also have to keep their grades up, and they have to stay on top of their financial literacy education, otherwise they can’t work here,” Bush said.

And the youths seemed to be as hungry for the education as they were for the sandwiches.

“I want to be an aeronautical engineer,” said Avery Chatmon, a 13 year old Kirby Smith Middle School student. “I’m not sure about the payroll, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a sizable amount of money, and I know right now that I’m absolutely terrible with money. . So I want to make sure I’m straight [when it comes to managing finances].”