Business

Exploring the Impact of Education: How PFEF and Inmates Help Support Children of the Incarcerated and Parolees in Education

Published

10 months ago

August 28, 2024

Many people are aware that the United States incarcerates the highest number of inmates worldwide. However, most do not understand the impact this has on their community and society at large.

“The nation’s strict prison sentences are not solving problems; they are creating them,” says Percy Pitzer, founder of the Pitzer Family Education Foundation (PFEF). “Instead of making the world safer, strict incarceration rates breed cycles that perpetuate and even increase crime.”

When 1.8 million incarcerated Americans are released back into the community, more than two-thirds are quickly rearrested for new crimes. What’s more, incarceration breeds a new generation of problems. Compared to their peers, the more than 5 million US boys and girls who have at least one parent in prison are six times more likely to follow their parents into involvement with the criminal justice system.

PFEF believes that education is the key to breaking the cycles of recidivism and intergenerational incarceration. For children of incarcerated parents and former inmates, access to education has the power to alter the course of their lives. For parolees, it provides a path to re-enter society with dignity.

PFEF and the National Children of the Incarcerated Scholarship Program

As a retired warden with over four decades in the US correctional system, Percy Pitzer was no stranger to recidivism and intergenerational incarceration. “I saw the cycle everywhere I looked,” he remembers. “Each time I passed a child sitting with their parents in the visiting room, I knew I was probably looking into the eyes of a future client. Without proactive support, most inmates and their children are bound to be trapped by this powerful cycle.”

Children with a parent in prison are forced to navigate psychological challenges, care deficiencies, and financial hardships. These obstacles notably hinder their educational aspirations and future prospects.

PFEF intervenes through the National Children of the Incarcerated Scholarship Program to provide scholarships that enable these children to pursue higher education. By doing so, PFEF helps to break the cycle of generational incarceration, offering a lifeline to those affected by their parents’ actions.

Applications for the National Children of the Incarcerated Scholarship Program are accepted throughout the year on a first-come, first-served basis. PFEF staff assists with financial aid applications, as their primary goal is to ensure applicants receive the resources they need to become successful students.

PFEF’s commitment goes beyond financial support to encompass emotional and logistical assistance that enhances the overall educational experience for these children. To date, their efforts have provided over 190 scholarships to children of parolees and inmates nationwide. Most notably, they have seen 133 successful graduates complete their education.

Inmates join the contributions

An impactful aspect of PFEF’s work is its dedication to involving current inmates in the scholarship program. To date, inmates in 14 state departments of corrections have collectively donated $244,034 towards college tuition costs for children of the incarcerated, which allowed the foundation to award 190 scholarships.

“Even though inmates do not have large amounts of money to contribute individually, most are eager to rally behind this cause,” remarks Pitzer. “Collectively, their contributions can make a huge difference. Best of all, when they take an active role in supporting their children’s education, it fosters a sense of responsibility and purpose.”

Furthermore, Pitzer points out how education can enhance inmates’ mental abilities and diminish the anti-social mindsets linked to criminality.

“Numerous inmates have reported that education fostered their shift away from prison ideologies towards setting constructive goals and finding a significant path in life,” he says. “By contributing to these scholarships, inmates can help develop pro-social values crucial for successful reentry into society. They know that their contributions help break the cycle of generational incarceration and provide educational opportunities that their children would probably not receive otherwise.”

Impacting recidivism with financial aid for parolees

In addition to supporting children, PFEF extends its reach to parolees re-entering society through targeted financial aid programs. The foundation partners with Lamar State College and the ABC Training Academy to provide trade certificate courses that cater to a wide range of interests and skill sets. These include a one-and-a-half-year welding program, a three-year electrical program, a three-year pipe-fitting program, a nine-month course covering industrial carpentry, a three-year course in instrumentation, and a 10-week course in scaffold building.

Since its inception, PFEF has awarded financial aid to 1,328 paroled students for the ABC Training Academy and currently offers funding to 626 students. Over the years, it has assisted 187 graduates in rejoining society with the skills they need to find stable and well-paying jobs.

By breaking the cycle of incarceration through education, PFEF transforms individual lives and contributes to broader societal change. “When we put people behind bars, we do not solve our problems,” Pitzer concludes, “but when we educate them, we can help set inmates and their children on a new path. Education gives them the tools to rise above their circumstances and break the cycles that hold them back.”

Business

High Volume, High Value: The Business Logic Behind Black Banx’s Growth

Published

15 hours ago

June 16, 2025

Matthew Wiles

In fintech, success no longer hinges on legacy prestige or brick-and-mortar branches—it’s about speed, scale, and precision. Black Banx, under the leadership of founder and CEO Michael Gastauer, has exemplified this model, turning its high-volume approach into high-value results.

The company’s Q1 2025 performance tells the story: $1.6 billion in pre-tax profit, $4.3 billion in revenue, and 9 million new customers added, bringing its total customer base to 78 million across 180+ countries.

But behind the numbers lies a carefully calibrated business model built for exponential growth. Here’s how Black Banx’s strategy of scale is redefining what profitable banking looks like in the digital age.

Scaling at Speed: Why Volume Matters

Unlike traditional banks, which often focus on deepening relationships with a limited set of customers, Black Banx thrives on breadth and transactional frequency. Its digital infrastructure supports onboarding millions of users instantly, with zero physical presence required. Customers can open accounts within minutes and transact across 28 fiat currencies and 2 cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin and Ethereum) from anywhere in the world.

Each customer interaction—whether it’s a cross-border transfer, crypto exchange, or FX transaction—feeds directly into Black Banx’s revenue engine. At scale, these micro-interactions yield macro results.

Real-Time, Global Payments at the Core

One of Black Banx’s most powerful value propositions is real-time cross-border payments. By enabling instant fund transfers across currencies and countries, the platform removes the frictions associated with SWIFT-based systems and legacy banking networks.

This service, used by individuals and businesses alike, generates:

Volume-based revenue from transaction fees
Exchange spreads on currency conversion
Premium service income from business clients managing international payroll or vendor payments

With operations in underserved regions like Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, Black Banx is not only increasing volume—it’s tapping into fast-growing financial ecosystems overlooked by legacy banks.

The Flywheel Effect of Crypto Integration

Crypto capabilities have added another dimension to the company’s high-volume model. As of Q1 2025, 20% of all Black Banx transactions involved cryptocurrency, including:

Crypto-to-fiat and fiat-to-crypto exchanges
Crypto deposits and withdrawals
Payments using Bitcoin or Ethereum

The crypto integration attracts both retail users and blockchain-native businesses, enabling them to:

Access traditional banking rails
Convert assets seamlessly
Operate with lower transaction fees than those found in standard financial systems

By being one of the few regulated platforms offering full banking and crypto support, Black Banx is monetizing the convergence of two financial worlds.

Optimized for Operational Efficiency

High volume is only profitable when costs are contained—and Black Banx has engineered its operations to be lean from day one. With a cost-to-income ratio of just 63% in Q1 2025, it operates significantly more efficiently than most global banks.

Key enablers of this cost efficiency include:

AI-driven compliance and customer support
Cloud-native architecture
Automated onboarding and KYC processes
Digital-only servicing without expensive physical infrastructure

The outcome is a platform that not only scales, but does so without sacrificing margin—each new customer contributes to profit rather than diluting it.

Business Clients: The Value Multiplier

While Black Banx’s massive customer base is largely consumer-driven, its business clients are high-value accelerators. From SMEs and startups to crypto firms and global freelancers, businesses use Black Banx for:

International transactions
Multi-currency payroll
Crypto-fiat settlements
Supplier payments and invoicing

These clients tend to:

Transact more frequently
Use a broader range of services
Generate significantly higher revenue per user

Moreover, Black Banx’s API integrations and tailored enterprise solutions lock in these clients for the long term, reinforcing predictable and scalable growth.

Monetizing the Ecosystem, Not Just the Account

The genius of Black Banx’s model is that it monetizes not just accounts, but entire customer journeys. A user might:

Onboard in minutes
Deposit funds from a crypto wallet
Exchange currencies
Pay an overseas vendor
Withdraw to a local bank account

Each of these actions touches a different monetization lever—FX spread, transaction fee, crypto conversion, or premium service charge. With 78 million customers doing variations of this at global scale, the cumulative financial impact becomes immense.

Strategic Expansion, Not Blind Growth

Unlike many fintechs that chase customer acquisition without a clear monetization path, Black Banx aligns its growth with strategic market opportunities. Its expansion into underbanked and high-demand markets ensures that:

Customer acquisition costs stay low
Services meet genuine needs (e.g., cross-border income, crypto access)
Revenue per user grows over time

It’s not just about acquiring more customers—it’s about acquiring the right customers, in the right markets, with the right needs.

The Future Belongs to Scalable Banking

Black Banx’s ability to transform high-volume engagement into high-value profitability is more than just a fintech success—it’s a signal of what the future of banking looks like. In a world where agility, efficiency, and inclusion define competitive advantage, Black Banx has created a blueprint for digital banking dominance.

With $1.6 billion in quarterly profit, nearly 80 million users, and services that span the globe and the blockchain, the company is no longer just scaling—it’s compounding. Each new user, each transaction, and each feature builds upon the last.

This is not the story of a bank growing.

This is the story of a bank accelerating.