Whether you sit in a pro or anti-AI camp, it's hard to criticize the approach that this nonprofit is taking with the technology. On this week's episode of Financial Freestyle, host Ross Mac spoke with Chicago Scholars CEO Jeff Beckham, whose organization focuses on using AI as a tool to transform career coaching for kids, making it more interactive and engaging.

Chicago Scholars' AI platform offers personalized career guidance, helping students understand their strengths and goals. "We work to coach young people through the process of picking that career," Beckham says. "We do a lot of personal development, soft and hard skill development in platform; using videos and using gaming so that students are making better decisions on the front end so that they stay in their jobs longer, and that they're more qualified when they walk into the companies they're working for." By making career coaching feel more like an interactive experience, AI is helping students feel more confident in their choices and better prepared for the workforce.

While AI can enhance the process, Beckham emphasized that it’s not meant to replace the real work. “One of the things our AI won’t do is that in the resume builder, a student can upload the resume, they can build it in-platform, they can ask for advice, but it will not write it for them,” he makes clear. Chicago Scholars trained their own LLM to uniquely leverage AI as a tool, ensuring that students use AI responsibly.

Beyond AI’s impact on education, Mac and Beckham also discussed the financial struggles nonprofits face. With rising costs and shifting donor priorities, traditional funding models are becoming harder to sustain. To adapt, Chicago Scholars has introduced new revenue-generating strategies, such as charging companies for access to its talent pipeline. “I've figured out how to fund the organization hopefully in perpetuity,” Beckham said, emphasizing that for nonprofits to survive, they must innovate—not just in how they serve their communities, but in how they sustain their missions.

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"Financial Freestyle with Ross Mac" on Yahoo Finance was created by John Tejada, and this episode was produced by Rachael Lewis-Krisky.

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