NYC Kids RISE

The NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program provides families, schools, communities, and the entire city with a way to work together to save for their children’s futures. It’s a scholarship and savings program designed to make college and career training more accessible and achievable for all NYC public school students—regardless of their family’s income or immigration status. Over the past four-plus years, NYC Kids RISE and our partners from the public, private, philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors have come together with school staff, community leaders, and more than 6,400 families to design and launch a pilot phase in School District 30 in Queens. Together, we’re building a universal, community driven wealth-building platform to promote economic opportunity and equity for all New Yorkers. How it works: Through the Save for College Program, every student enrolled in a participating NYC public (district or charter) elementary school, starting in kindergarten automatically receives an NYC Scholarship Account invested in a 529 plan with a $100 initial deposit. New first- and second-graders will also be enrolled in the program. Families can also open their own college savings account, and start saving their own money to earn additional funds in their child’s NYC Scholarship Account. Communities can contribute to these NYC Scholarship Accounts -- by selecting an individual school, a group of schools, specific grade or the entire district -- through “Community Scholarships” to further increase the savings in each child’s account and demonstrate support for their success. Through this two-account approach -- the NYC Scholarship Account and the family’s own college savings accounts -- families, friends, schools, communities, and larger institutions and systems are working together to build assets and support expectations for each child’s future. Following this pilot phase, NYC Kids RISE hopes to expand the Program to every NYC public school. Info: nyckidsrise.org