COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 4, 2025--
A four-student team from Fisk University took the top prize in the #IYKYK Pitch Competition (If You Know, You Know) for their business idea to make financial literacy and credit education a rite of passage for young adults, sponsored by Experian and HomeFree-USA.
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Nicknamed Team FinLit, Ansana Regmi, Destiny Marshall, Remilekun Ore and Sovit Lekhak earned a $40,000 scholarship for their proposal, “FinLit HQ.” It’s a personalized gaming experience for teenagers that helps them develop good financial habits and combat money dysmorphia. As they enter their early twenties, users move onto more advanced app-based credit education via gaming missions for real-world financial scenarios, such as buying books at college, renting an apartment, financing a car, and eventually purchasing a home. Because the proposed app would be integrated with Experian SmartMoney, Experian Boost and Experian Go, users would strengthen their real-life credit score as they play in preparation for making informed financial decisions as young adults.
“We realize there’s a knowledge gap within the younger generation about credit. You don’t give someone a car and ask them to drive on the road without any practice. You shouldn’t push young people into the financial world without any education. One small mistake can impact you for years and that’s why FinLitHQ is for users starting as young as 13,” said Ansana Remi, a junior computer science major from Fisk University and captain of Team FinLit.
The #IYKYK Pitch Competition, powered by Experian’s B.A.L.L. for Life initiative, challenged students to create a solution that makes financial literacy and credit education a rite of passage to young people coming of age, including those who are not part of the credit ecosystem. Credit invisibility – meaning without a credit report or credit score – affects 40% of consumers under 25 years of age. Credit invisibility disproportionately affects people of color: 28% of Black consumers, 26% of Hispanic consumers, compared to 16% of White and Asian consumers.
The competition was the culmination of the Experian Credit Academy created for the Center for Financial Advancement® (CFA). Five hundred students from 16 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) came together in live sessions with Experian credit education experts and self-paced modules. Finalists from Bowie State University and Talladega College also presented their ideas live at Experian’s North America headquarters and each team received a $10,000 scholarship.
"We are thrilled to see students fully embrace the pitch competition challenge. Their deep connection bridging the gap in credit education knowledge, and passion for sharing what they’re learning with their communities are inspiring. At Experian, our goal is to make credit education not only informative but also fun, exciting, and culturally relevant. Seeing the enthusiasm and dedication from these students reaffirms our commitment to this mission with HomeFree-USA and the Center for Financial Advancement," said Raudy Perez, Senior Director of External Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Partnerships for Experian North America.
“Education is designed for students, yet their voices can sometimes be missing from the process. Experian’s #IYKYK Pitch Competition allows students to take what they've learned and apply it to real-life scenarios. Learning by doing is powerful, and in this experience, students deepen their understanding of credit and financial literacy by actively engaging with the material and sharing their knowledge with others,” said LuWanna Williams, University Director for the Center of Financial Advancement™.
As part of its mission of financial inclusion and empowerment for all, Experian partners with HomeFree-USA to provide continuing education for its housing counselors and resources for their clients. The company created the Home Preservation Grant, which supported homeowners at risk of losing their homes due to COVID-related hardships with credit education and mortgage relief. Inclusion Forward – Experian Empowering Opportunities™ harnesses Experian’s data, analytics and technology to help clients provide more affordable credit access to diverse communities. To learn more about Experian’s work in diverse communities: visit www.experian.com/diversity.
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About HomeFree-USA
HomeFree-USA is a nonprofit started by Marcia and Jim Griffin in 1994 with a vision to close the homeownership gap. The organization gives African Americans the guidance they need to achieve and sustain homeownership, and bridges the gap between financial strength and homeownership for people of color across America.
As a HUD-intermediary, HomeFree-USA serves the diverse interests of 6.3 million consumers through its nationwide network of over 50 affiliated community-based nonprofits that specialize in guiding people to first-time homeownership, sustainability and increased financial capacity.
For more information visit: https://homefreeusa.org/.
About Center for Financial Advancement ™
The Center for Financial Advancement™ (CFA) is a solution to the industry’s call for more diversity. HomeFree-USA partners with, recruits, trains and places students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) into internships and careers in partnering mortgage, real estate, and financial services companies. Participating CFA Scholars are exposed to credit, money management and homeownership in order to become a savvy consumer and future homeowner.
About Experian
Experian is a global data and technology company, powering opportunities for people and businesses around the world. We help to redefine lending practices, uncover and prevent fraud, simplify healthcare, deliver digital marketing solutions, and gain deeper insights into the automotive market, all using our unique combination of data, analytics and software. We also assist millions of people to realize their financial goals and help them to save time and money.
We operate across a range of markets, from financial services to healthcare, automotive, agrifinance, insurance, and many more industry segments.
We invest in talented people and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data and innovate. As a FTSE 100 Index company listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN), we have a team of 22,500 people across 32 countries. Our corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland. Learn more at experianplc.com.
The four scholar team from Fisk University celebrates after winning the 2025 #IYKYK Pitch Competition (If You Know You Know) sponsored by Experian, HomeFree-USA and the Center for Financial Advancement for their idea promoting credit education to teens and young adults. (L-R Remilekun Ore, Fisk University; Michele Bodda, Experian President of Employer Services, Verification Solutions and Housing; Destiny Marshall, Fisk University; Wil Lewis, Experian's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Talent Acquisition Officer; Ansana Regmi, Fisk University; and Sovit Lekhak, Fisk University.) (Photo: Business Wire)
The four scholar team from Fisk University celebrates after winning the 2025 #IYKYK Pitch Competition (If You Know You Know) sponsored by Experian, HomeFree-USA and the Center for Financial Advancement for their idea promoting credit education to teens and young adults. (Photo: Business Wire)
ROMA, Texas (AP) — Standing on a high bank of the Rio Grande, Army Lt. Col. Ray Richards points to a stretch of river that was, until recently, one of the busiest spots for illegal border crossings from Mexico.
But on a recent afternoon, the area is quiet. American soldiers gather at a border monitoring post in Roma, Texas, where an infantry vehicle with camouflage netting sits between houses. A Blackhawk helicopter drops soldiers onto an island in the river, while U.S. Border Patrol agents breeze by on fan-propelled boats.
“At any given time, there would be multiple rafts full of people trying to get to this side,” Richards said of the area before U.S. forces made it a priority last year.
The Army has been inviting reporters to the Rio Grande Valley as it deploys hundreds more soldiers to the region this month by shifting some of the thousands of troops already serving along the 2,000-mile border. U.S. officials said the troop surge follows signs of elevated activity from drug cartels and has been accompanied by increased cooperation from the Mexican military. The U.S. Coast Guard said it recently encountered gunfire from the Mexican side of the river, prompting the Americans to fire back.
In this small patch at the southern edge of the United States, a slow saga is playing out — a curious mix of policing, policy and politics.
While Republicans face increasing headwinds because of President Donald Trump’s unpopularity, persistently high prices and the fallout from the war in Iran, border security has remained a relative bright spot in Trump's polling numbers, with about half of Americans saying they approve of his performance there.
But some experts have questioned the need for such a large military presence. They suggest it's less about effective strategy and more about political theater.
Illegal crossings have plummeted due in large part to asylum restrictions that began before Trump returned to the White House. Meanwhile, a large percentage of the fentanyl, cocaine and heroin seized along the border was being smuggled in cars and trucks passing through checkpoints, not the areas in between.
David Shirk, a University of San Diego political science professor, said the Trump administration wants to remind voters it's been very aggressive on border security.
“I don't dispute there’s some benefit to having personnel in areas at risk for people smuggling and drug trafficking,” Shirk said. “But the vast majority of that is now happening at ports of entry.”
Dessa Bergen-Cico, a professor of public health at Syracuse University who studies drug trafficking, said street prices for cocaine and fentanyl are still low, suggesting the drug flow remains unimpeded.
But Army Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, who commands the military's southern border task force, said the work has been vital and effective, particularly for targeting human trafficking.
The moral argument for the Army's mission is “dismantling this marketplace of human trafficking that is bringing people into the border,” Taylor said. “An added benefit of that is there’s an awful lot of drugs moving with that human trafficking.”
Roma, a city of about 10,000 people, lacks a border wall in some places because homes sit close to the steep slopes along the Rio Grande. Directly across the water is Miguel Alemán, a town in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas that’s been plagued by decades of cartel violence. From Roma, it's a football field's distance across the river at best and much less in some places.
In 2021, Roma became a center of illegal crossings when thousands of families and unaccompanied children arrived each day to seek asylum. Border crossings fell sharply after President Joe Biden introduced severe asylum restrictions in 2024 and dipped after Trump suspended asylum at the border.
After Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the Army and Coast Guard expanded operations to back up the Border Patrol, which remains the lead agency for border security. The Army now commands some 8,000 U.S. troops along the entire border, while the U.S. Coast Guard and Texas law enforcement have brought in more personnel.
Army officials said people still try to cross into Roma despite multiple obstacles. A barrier of strung-together buoys, each the size of a hay bale, stretched along the river. Concertina wire lined the U.S. river bank, while a surveillance blimp hung in the sky. A river island was recently cleared of trees that hid people trying to cross.
Army Sgt. Nathaniel Decker said he recently saw people on three rafts set out from the Mexican side at dusk. He reported to Border Patrol that one group had cleared the buoys. They were eventually caught by a house in Roma.
The U.S. has stopped many of the drones used by the cartels to surveil the border and ferry drugs, by electronically jamming or capturing them or shooting them down with a laser.
The U.S. has gotten better at tracking them and coordinating with Mexican officials to locate the drones' operators. But some still get across.
“We have reduced a lot of the flights,” said Richards, the Army lieutenant colonel, who has deployed with the Massachusetts Army National Guard. “But in the middle of the night, those drones can fly into the U.S. airspace, and that’s a true threat to any soldier on the ground.”
Under pressure from Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has cracked down more heavily on crime than her predecessors. Mexico this month sent 500 National Guard and military officers to Tamaulipas as part of a coordinated effort with the U.S. to prevent drug and human trafficking.
Mexico's deployment “is based on intelligence gathered regarding the movements of criminal groups,” a federal official in Mexico told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter.
As part of the operation, the Mexican Army is using two UH-60 helicopters, drones and anti-drone equipment.
The U.S. Coast Guard has also boosted patrols on the Rio Grande, bringing in more than 300 personnel in October of last year. While stopping a boat on the river last month, the Coast Guard encountered gunfire from the Mexican side of the water near Garceno, Texas, the service said in a statement. The Americans returned fire. None were hurt.
U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Jeff Miller wouldn't give additional details about the exchange of gunfire, except to say the personnel are “working in a very challenging environment" and are authorized to use force to protect themselves.
On a recent patrol, the scene along the river was quiet. A Coast Guard boat armed with machine guns motored along the greenish water. Two men fished from a small boat. A privately funded border wall, made from galvanized steel, lined the American side. In Mexico, there was a park with soccer goal posts, homes and a woman waving.
A Coast Guardsman driving the boat, who declined to give his name, said he's seen kids on the Mexican side get excited as if a fire truck were passing. Others have offered the Americans cold beer. Some have reacted with offensive gestures.
Joel Garcia, Border Patrol's acting deputy chief patrol agent for the Rio Grande Valley, said the agency has proof that U.S. operations have been effective based on the amount of drug seizures, the number of people apprehended and decreasing traffic within certain areas.
“Border security, when done right, if we have truly secured the line, should be boring,” he added. “It should look as if no one is crossing and nothing is happening.”
Associated Press writers Fabiola Sánchez and Megan Janetsky in Mexico City contributed to this report.
A U.S. Border Patrol airboat carries army personnel along the Rio Grande as they keep watch along the U.S.-Mexico border in Roma, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
People fish on the Rio Grande new a border wall at the U.S.-Mexico border in McAllen, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
U.S. Army personnel keep watch over the U.S.-Mexico border in Roma, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
U.S. Army personnel keep watch over the U.S.-Mexico border in Roma, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Troops disembark from a U.S. Army helicopter on an island along the Rio Grande in Roma, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
