The National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA) is pleased to name American Jewelry and Loan as the 2018 recipient of the NPA Outstanding Community Relations Award. Seth and Les Gold, of TruTV’s Hardcore Pawn, accepted the award at the Annual Awards Luncheon on July 10, 2018. The event was held at The Mirage in Las Vegas during Pawn Expo 2018, the only national convention and trade show for the pawn industry.
Celebrating 40 years of business in metro Detroit, American Jewelry and Loan has a long history of community involvement, which employs a three-tier strategy of business leadership, financial literacy, and charitable giving. Their Entrepreneurship Master Class provides low-cost training and mentoring to approximately 50 aspiring entrepreneurs. As volunteer mentors for Junior Achievement, the Golds give freely of their time to attend high school “Shark-Tank Style” pitches, offering business wisdom and insights as well as seed funds from “The Gold Bank.” As part of their commitment to workforce diversity, American Jewelry and Loan provides meaningful employment to adults on the autism spectrum.
The Golds recognize that financial literacy is an important priority for the Detroit region and have worked to help educate their customers and others about pawnbroking. Their “Financial Literacy for Alternative Lending Customers” course, now in its second year, represents a partnership with three national non-profit organizations and is the only one of its kind.
The Gold family is committed to supporting their community. Les frequently serves as a celebrity auctioneer and has raised $125,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters and almost $300,000 for Winning Futures, a youth mentoring program. Seth served as Honorary Chair of the Wigs 4 Kids Gala. In addition to welcoming summer interns from The Jalen Rose Academy, American Jewelry and Loan contributed $10,000 towards the scholarship fund of this charter high school, which serves the children who live in the same neighborhood as their Detroit store. To celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary, they gave a $10,000 gift to Junior Achievement of Southeastern to establish ‘The Gold Bank’ which will fund the entrepreneurial endeavors of Detroit’s youth for generations to come.
