Reverend Dr. DeForest B. Soaries, Jr., the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens (FBCLG) in Somerset, New Jersey, and the former New Jersey Secretary of State, launched the Billion Dollar Challenge to create black wealth and to motivate the black communities to strive for financial freedom during unprecedented times.

Dr. Soaries:  The Billion Dollar Challenge (BDC) is a dfree® campaign to create black wealth.

BDC at its core basic level is an online tool that is used to help people manage their debts, make plans to pay them off using online calculators and planning tools as well as build our savings to establish a more positive financial position.

Black Enterprise: Can you explain some of the tools being offered to help motivate and educate people that are striving for financial freedom?

Dr. Soaries:  We have signed up 10,000 participants

Black Enterprise: How can the African American black communities utilize the stimulus checks in a way that benefits them for the future, beyond COVID-19?