Word to the Wise | From Joliet to Howard: Micah Clemens’ Mission to Demystify Credit and Build Generational Wealth

by Anna De Cheke Qualls

From a high school classroom in Joliet, Illinois, to the front lines of consumer lending in Austin, Texas, Micah Clemens has always been driven by a singular question: how can financial systems be harnessed to build lasting wealth for underserved communities?

Today, as a Master of Arts candidate in Economics at Howard University, Clemens is transforming his real-world banking experience into rigorous, data-driven research. His path toward advanced economic analysis was forged not in abstract theory, but through the daily realities of borrowers fighting for access to capital.

Growing up in Joliet with a working-class family—his father drove trucks and his mother worked as a church-devoted secretary—college was always presented as the goal, though the exact field remained unclear until high school.

"I did not know what to study until I took Econ with an eccentric high school teacher," Clemens recalls. "He persuaded me that if I studied economics then I would know how money worked and how to make it. I declared Econ as my major."

After completing his undergraduate studies, Clemens entered the financial sector, working as a mortgage loan officer for a credit union in Austin, Texas, that primarily served Latino immigrants. There, he witnessed systemic barriers firsthand.

"These were hardworking, taxpaying clients purchasing their first home for their families," Clemens says. "Even with great credit, however, borrowers of this type were condemned to higher interest rates."

His transition to working as a business loan officer further exposed the structural inequities in access to credit.

"I learned the types of businesses and the credentials they need to get approved for access to credit," Clemens reflects. "It brought me grief to work on a file for a black entrepreneur only to receive back a denial from an underwriter. I felt helpless in my role and decided that furthering my education at Howard would place me in a position to make a difference in the loan industry."

Parallel to his banking career, Clemens actively volunteered teaching financial literacy through community organizations like the Urban League and Huston-Tillotson University, an Austin HBCU. Those experiences crystallized his overarching purpose.

"During these lessons, I noticed a lack of credit knowledge within the community," Clemens says. "I decided my career goal is to demystify credit so that my people can prove themselves creditworthy and get access to credit to build generational wealth."

Now at Howard University, Clemens is sharpening his analytical skill set in econometrics and quantitative modeling to address these systemic issues head-on.

"Currently, I am researching the effects of income on debt and am using least squares regressions to try and model the effect," he explains.

In addition to his academic workload, Clemens serves as Treasurer of Howard's Graduate Economics Student Association (GESA). Within the Academic Support Building (ASB), GESA keeps students connected to real-time economic indicators, tracking key releases from the Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Labor Statistics while spotlighting departmental faculty research.

"This role conditions me to take on leadership responsibilities in the workforce amongst my economic peers," Clemens notes. "This is a space where you must state your claims confidently and be prepared to defend them. It is an opportunity to voice my opinion and leave a lasting mark on my corner of Howard’s campus."

Clemens’s commitment to community economics extends well beyond the classroom. In Austin, he sits on the board of directors for Six Square—Austin’s Black Cultural District—and the SIMS Foundation, an organization providing mental health and recovery services to music industry professionals.

Through Six Square, he learned that local economic development requires consistent civic involvement. "I learned we must show up to every local government hearing, meeting, election, etc. and communicate effectively within the community," Clemens emphasizes. "Everyone should be aware of what is happening for us to take action as a collective."

Meanwhile, his board work with SIMS reinforces the necessity of empirical metrics in non-profit and public-sector work. "Finding evidence-based solutions is what keeps funding flowing into these types of organizations," says Clemens. "Sponsors want to see deliverables and be assured their dollars are making a true impact and not just a write off. It is fulfilling to know that my analytic tools can be used for good in this world."

Recently named a NABE (National Association for Business Economics) Scholar, Clemens aims to leverage professional connections across the field to delve deeper into data-driven solutions for wealth inequality. Looking ahead, Clemens envisions a career at the intersection of finance, technology, and public policy. For him, true innovation in financial inclusion is measured by sustainable, multi-generational change.

"For me, impact looks like the younger generation actively building credit at an early age," Clemens says. "It is when black parents pass down sound credit advice—more than just 'stay away from credit cards.' It is when cosigning a loan is not taboo, and generational wealth is commonplace."