My Credit, My Power

The programme addresses the unique intersection of race, gender, and class that shapes the financial experiences of this group — including disproportionate barriers to credit, limited representation in financial education, and the absence of culturally resonant money guidance.

MCMP goes beyond traditional financial education by combining practical skills development with lived experience, peer learning, and community solidarity. The programme is grounded in the belief that financial empowerment is not just a personal outcome — it is a form of collective, generational liberation.

The Problem We Are Addressing

Young Black women in the UK face a distinct and often invisible financial disadvantage:

• The ethnicity pay gap means Black women earn significantly less than their white counterparts, with compounding effects on savings, credit, and wealth accumulation.
• Black households are disproportionately more likely to be in problem debt, experience financial exclusion, or lack access to mainstream credit products.
• Financial education provision in the UK rarely reflects the cultural context or lived realities of Black communities.
• There is a significant gap in data and research specifically focused on the financial wellbeing of young Black women — making advocacy for targeted support difficult.
• Systemic barriers including discrimination in lending, underrepresentation in financial services, and structural poverty mean that general financial literacy interventions often fail this group.

Despite this, young Black women in the UK demonstrate remarkable financial agency, entrepreneurialism, and community investment — when given the right tools and support. MCMP exists to unlock that potential.

MCMP primarily serves young Black women aged 18–30, with a focus on those who are:

• Early in their financial journey (first jobs, leaving home, early adulthood)
• Navigating credit for the first time or seeking to rebuild financial standing
• From Black African, Black Caribbean, or mixed Black heritage backgrounds
• Based in UK urban communities, particularly those with limited access to quality financial guidance

The Research Gap — Why Evidence Matters

One of the most significant challenges facing programmes like MCMP is the near absence of robust data specifically focused on young Black women’s financial experiences in the UK. While national surveys such as the Money and Pensions

Service MoneyView and the Financial Lives Survey provide important context, they rarely disaggregate data at the intersection of race and gender in ways that make the specific experience of young Black women visible.

This creates a paradox: the communities most in need of targeted financial intervention are the hardest to evidence to funders and policymakers. My Credit My Power is committed to closing this gap — both by generating original participant data and by working with academic partners to contextualise our findings within the wider evidence base.

If you are a young Black woman living in London, Manchester, Birmingham, or Cardiff and would like to have a voice about your lived experience of financial barriers and lack of confidence, please get in touch and we can direct you to the partners supporting in those areas.