Teaching about generational wealth through cafecitos
Nearly two dozen participants attended the Sunnyside Foundation’s first bilingual Cafecito on generational wealth, “Let’s Talk About It: Wealth, Money and Our Community.”
On a beautiful spring morning, familiar faces gathered at American Eat Co., in the way that raza does best: with a warm hug, a kiss on the cheek, and carrilla. There was the smell of freshly brewed coffee from Cafe con Leche. There was the unmistakable brown boxes of pan dulce from La Estrella Bakery that tempted participants with their conchas, cochitos, and other colorful sweets. Everything from the food, to the speakers, to the choice of setting on Tucson’s south side felt familiar.
And that’s exactly how the Sunnyside Foundation likes it.
Embedded into its mission is the idea that culturally-relevant content can engage community, and a more engaged community creates healthy outcomes. “Our first Cafecito was a first step forward to engage in dialogue with one another to demystify and define generational wealth,” said Sunnyside Foundation CEO, Liz Soltero.
Cafecitos create a space for listening and personal reflection, Soltero explained. To help participants better manage money and create wealth, it’s important to learn and unlearn habits in ways that build confidence.
Sunnyside Foundation CEO, Liz Soltero welcomes participants as she sets the table for the organization’s first cafecito on generational wealth. (Left to right: panelists Taunya Villicana, Miguel Cruz, and moderator, Dr. Alexei Marquez).
Community, Wealth
Since opening in 2018, American Eat Co., the multi-restaurant concept of Jesus Bonillas and Memo Gallego has been the go-to hangout of Tucson’s Latinx scene. It hosts Election Day parties and community fundraisers. It hosts karaoke, live music, not to mention a Mariachi breakfast on Sundays. And last Friday, it was the site of the Sunnyside Foundation’s first bilingual cafecito on wealth-building.
The cafecito at American Eat Co. featured the stories of two trusted community messengers, Miguel Cruz and Taunya Villicana. Born in worlds apart, the Mexico City native and Tucson native shared deeply personal stories about their humble upbringings and how these experiences helped shape their understandings of wealth. Miguel Cruz is the Vice President of Brand and Community Engagement at Tucson Federal Credit Union. Taunya Villicana is the CEO of Aspirational Wealth Management. Both are fluent in the world of financial services, though their knowledge of wealth and money wasn’t something that they inherited.
Villicana is a miner’s daughter and the product of the Sunnyside Unified School District. She started making her own money from a young age doing odd jobs like landscaping and selling newspapers. The former chair of the Tucson Airport Authority grew up along the airport’s flight path, on Pinta Avenue which runs parallel to the I-19 freeway. “We were living paycheck to paycheck,” said Villicana. Self-taught, she learned the fundamentals of good money management early: work for yourself, save money, hustle, repeat.
The son of a carpenter and the oldest of ten kids, Cruz was born in Mexico City. His passion was veterinary medicine and epidemiology, not financial services. He came to the United States when he fell in love with an American teacher, now his wife. Finding love was easy. Finding a job in his field—not so much. For a while, Miguel, who had a professional degree found himself painting apartments to make ends meet. Bilingual in both English and Spanish he caught a break working for American Express.
Last Friday’s cafecito, began with a simple prompt: what does generational wealth mean to you? After a long pause, interrupted only by the faint sound of restaurant workers prepping for the afternoon rush, the workshop attendees began to chime in.
One participant defined generational wealth in the context of her grandmother who grew up during the Great Depression and knew how to stretch a dollar. She also spoke about her own experience working in social services and how sometimes it only takes one episode to push people into poverty—a common theme in the narrative of American medical debt.
Another workshop attendee expressed frustration with the two different sets of rules for communities of color. “One thing is that the information that I was getting from people talking about wealth was different than what I was seeing in financial literacy,” she said. “Why are we limiting ourselves just to financial literacy when there is this other game being played out there around wealth?”
Another participant expressed little connection to the term ‘generational wealth’.
“We don’t talk about Bruno,” said moderator Dr. Alexei Marquez (right) referring to the stigma that the Latinx community carries when it comes to talking about money and wealth.
Opportunity (and hard) Knocks
Getting out of poverty, having an emergency fund, cracking the wealth code: these are deeply personal stories and aspirations. Which is why the Sunnyside Foundation’s cafecitos are hosted in spaces where Tucson’s Spanish-speaking community feel most at ease: American Eat Co., the Adalberto and Ana Guerrero Student Center at the University of Arizona, the YWCA of Southern Arizona. This year, the Sunnyside Foundation will be experimenting with new spaces like FORGE at Roy Place and the Tucson Industrial Development Authority’s AVANZA Empowerment Center.
“It was evident that our community wants more opportunities to have these conversations,” said Soltero.
Finding opportunity, knowing how to act on those opportunities, and being frugal was a common thread between the stories shared by Cruz and Villicana.
“We live the moment today, because tomorrow estas muerto,” said Miguel Cruz referring to the hard balance between the Hispanic culture’s love of celebrations and the importance of saving money. Among his principles for building wealth, Cruz was critical of America’s consumer culture. He emphasized asking questions when deciding to splurge on big ticket items. “How does this make us feel? Do we really need this?” The Mexico native, Cruz politely asked the audience to reflect about the cost of cultural experiences like Quinceañeras—where costs can easily add up to tens of thousands of dollars.
“As a kid growing up in Mexico City, we would work in mansions,” said Miguel Cruz. “I thought, ‘they are rich and I’m just the son of a carpenter.’ I never thought that I could be that person one day.”
Mindset was also important for Villicana, but also skill-building and knowing how to read a room. “I was a risk taker by nature. I was competitive,” said Villicana. “I ran cross country and track, so I learned the hard way…‘How did these people beat me? I’ll get up earlier, I’ll run further, I’ll weight lift and do all these things…I listened to my coaches and learned confidence through running.”
The daughter of a legal secretary, Villicana would at times accompany her mother to work. There she quickly learned to be observant while waiting out the day in a conference room. “I learned soft skills that became the building blocks of many skills,” recalled Villicana. “I learned that I was in the presence of powerful people who were intelligent and had college educations.”
When she was 19 years old, a college friend of Villicana’s whose mother worked at Merrill Lynch told her about a job opening. Villicana went in to interview for the position knowing little of what the work entailed. “When I walked into the office it was after hours. He saw my nervousness and read my energy. He said, ‘here’s a script and talk to me’. We met for two hours and he hired me on the spot.”
Connecting community to tools and resources
Success stories matter when it comes to building wealth. Embedded in these stories are skills, mindsets, and sage advice. They inspire and can create a path for others to follow. “We look forward to bringing the community together alongside partners who can share their experiences and connect the community to tools and resources,” said Liz Soltero.
At around 11 a.m., the sound of kitchen radios and restaurant employees singing along meant it was time to wrap things up. There were more hugs and business cards and several lets connect soon exchanged. A school psychologist who mentors a group of young girls was overheard trying to connect her group of girls to female mentors in the community, “We would love to know if they can visit your office…”
The Sunnyide Foundation’s first cafecito ended with the to-be-honest catharsis that, when it comes to money and building wealth, la raza is just trying to figure it out.
UPCOMING CAFECITOS
The remainder of the cafecitos are designed to inspire more of these types of conversations. More learning, more networking, more skill-building. They will be taking place across Tucson from April through the beginning of June. Register here.
April 4: Tools to Build Generational Wealth. Time: 9-11a. Location: Univ. of Arizona Guerrero Center. César Chávez Building, 1110 James E. Rogers Way, Room 205.
April 28: Mujeres Building Wealth. How Do you see yourself in the financial world? 9-11a. Location: YWCA of Southern Arizona, 525 N. Bonita Ave.
May 12: Accessing Capital - BIPOC Loan Funding. 9-11a. FORGE at Roy Place, 44 N Stone Ave.
May 26: Business Cents, How to Build and Grow. 9-11a. El Pueblo Center, 101 W Irvington Road.
June 9: Generational Wealth & Financial Management Roundtable + Resource Hub. 9-11a. at AVANZA! Empowerment Center (IDA), 376 S. Stone Ave.
