New York City is making a historic investment in the future of its children. Starting this fall, public-school kindergarteners in the Big Apple will receive NYC Scholarship Accounts seeded with $1,000.<\/p>\n
The major new investment builds on ideas first tested through research by the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis that has shaped the field of child asset building.<\/p>\n
Announced<\/a> on June 30 by Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin, the move dramatically raises the opening balance for participating children and deepens the city\u2019s bet on a simple but far-reaching idea with roots at the CSD: giving children assets early can widen educational and economic opportunity long before they transition to education beyond high school.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a significant step forward for children\u2019s asset building and for public policy grounded in evidence,\u201d said Michael Sherraden<\/a>, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis and founder and co-director of CSD.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York City is building on a policy model tested in SEED OK, and it is doing so for a very good reason: Automatic, inclusive asset-building systems can be both effective and sustainable,\u201d Sherraden added. \u201cIn addition, New York City is showing that child asset-building policy spurs additional public and private funding.\u201d<\/p>\n