15 Years of 2020

dfree ® CEO and Founder Dr. DeForest B. Soaries, Jr. has been a pastor for more than 30 years and a community leader for the duration of his adult life. He’s had the privilege and humble responsibility to not only identify and acknowledge the most challenging human conditions, but more importantly to generate tangible solutions to ease and/or eliminate such suffering.

From that privilege and responsibility, dfree ® was born 15 years ago.

June 19th 1865: The day slaves in Galveston, Texas were freed. Jim Crow began as early as then. Lasted until the 60’s. Now here we are still experiencing the same racial injustices as our forefathers. Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and so many more. Black America has again reached the height of social injustice and police brutality in the constant battle for equality. In 2019 alone, 1,099 people were killed by the police. Black people accounted for 24 percent of those killed despite being only 13 percent of the population. Black people are far too familiar with the injustices of the country that we built. But, enough is enough! Black America is having a Catharsis moment.

We’ve protested for months. So, what’s next? What now? Will freedom finally ring?

One thing should be obvious to us by now. It has become abundantly clear that help will not come from the outside. Our freedom depends on US! Black economic power matters more than ever before.

We need a strategy. And, dfree ® is armed to combat social reform on OUR behalf because… real social justice is impossible

When we are a financially stable people, more doors will open and opportunities will arise that were once inconceivable – politically, socially and economically. Such freedom won’t just happen overnight. We need strategy and mobilization! Booker T. Washington once said: “At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be for our race economic independence.”

According to Nielson, Black Americans spend more than $1 trillion a year. If just 100,000 Black people paid off $10,000 of consumers debt each and shifted the former debt payments to savings, insurance and investments, we could create more than $50 billion of Black wealth. But, getting out of debt is the first step to financial freedom. We must annihilate the wealth gap statistics that have been placed on us as a race and provide solutions beyond slogans and hashtags!

There needs to be a cultural shift! We’ve been led to believe that knowing more makes us do better. But when it comes to finances, adjusting your attitude is crucial to doing better! What we need to be reminded is that it doesn’t take super powers to change our state of mind and change our lifestyles. It takes commitment. It takes the willingness to focus on our problems and take the first steps on a journey to end them. Financial struggles remain one of the major road blocks for Black Americans. Yet it is entirely within our power to change our financial status. We can become disciplined enough to budget and pay our bills on time. We can become focused enough to take our Godgiven talents and skills and turn them into lucrative businesses.

Dr. Soaries has been on the forefront of our ongoing uphill battle to obtain freedom. Over the past two decades, he has impacted his home church, First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, in a tremendous way. While expanding his congregation from 600 to over 7,000 members, he led First Baptist Church in the construction of a new $20 million

church complex, redeveloped 150,000 square feet of commercial real estate, and created a foreclosure prevention strategy that helps homeowners avoid losing their homes.

In 1992, he founded the Central Jersey Community Development Corporation (CJCDC): a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that specializes in helping vulnerable neighborhoods in New Jersey achieve economic growth, sustainability, and empowerment.

Dr. Soaries has also led the formation of other non-profit organizations, such as the Renaissance Economic Development Corporation (REDC) and CDC Properties, Inc. REDC strives to improve neighborhood business, employment, and resident self-sufficiency, while CDC Properties, Inc. is dedicated to providing decent and affordable housing services throughout the state of New Jersey.

Dr. Soaries founded dfree ® in 2005. Designed specifically for African

Americans, dfree ® was featured in CNN’s Almighty Debt: A Black in America Special back in 2010. This year, we celebrate 15 years of our financial freedom revolution! Since our inception, we’ve grown globally: dfree ® is used by more than 4,000 churches and organizations, and 200,000 individuals; more than 6,000 individuals have taken our free online class; and, through our Billion Dollar Challenge alone, we’ve helped more than 10,000 African Americans rid themselves of nearly $25 million of consumer debt!

Our strategies are tried and true. We’re flipping the script and mobilizing the Black community. We are providing solutions and strategy beyond slogans and hashtags. We have tangible strategies and solutions for you to start or further your journey to financial freedom so that we can experience real freedom as a people.

Resilience is in our DNA. And, sometimes you just have to start a revolution.