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Funding Long Island City’s Future through the Save for College Program

Posted on: December 03, 2019

Show kids across Long Island City, Queens that the community has their back!

This coming January, nearly all the kindergarten, first- and second-grade students across public schools in Long Island City will have an NYC Scholarship Account with initial funds set aside for their college and career training. These accounts are a universal, early investment in each Long Island City child’s education.

The “Funding Long Island City’s Future” Community Scholarship is a community effort in Long Island City to come together to increase the college and career training funds in the scholarship accounts of K-2 students at five Long Island City schools: P.S. 76 William Hallett, P.S. 111 Jacob Blackwell, P.S. 112 Dutch Kills, Growing Up Green Charter School, and VOICE Charter School.

“Funding Long Island City’s Future” provides a way for Long Island City’s businesses, neighbors, civic organizations, and others to visibly and tangibly support the scholarship accounts of students in our neighborhood. Research shows that a child in a low-income household with a college savings account of just $1-$500 is three times more likely to go to college and more than four times more likely to graduate than a child without an account.

This contribution to these young students’ college funds is made possible by the NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program, a universal scholarship and savings initiative launched by the nonprofit NYC Kids RISE in 2017 in School District 30, Queens, in partnership with the City of New York and the NYC Department of Education with founding support from the Gray Foundation. Each NYC Scholarship Account was opened with a $100 seed investment from NYC Kids RISE, with additional opportunities for matching funds and contributions from organizations, businesses, and community members.  

This contribution to these young students’ college funds is made possible by the NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program, a universal scholarship and savings initiative launched by the nonprofit NYC Kids RISE in 2017 in School District 30, Queens, in partnership with the City of New York and the NYC Department of Education. Each NYC Scholarship Account was opened with a $100 seed investment from NYC Kids RISE, with additional opportunities for matching funds and contributions from organizations, businesses, and community members. 

About the NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program

The NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program provides families, schools, and communities 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, starting with all kindergartners in School District 30 in Queens—regardless of their family’s income or immigration status. The Save for College Program is a tool that families, along with their schools and neighbors, can use and customize in the way that best fits into their lives and best supports their dreams for their children. To date more than 95% of all first- and second-graders in District 30 have an NYC Scholarship Account. In January, the current kindergarten class will be enrolled. NYC Kids RISE and the community have invested more than $1.1M into these NYC Scholarship Accounts and families have saved nearly $800K since opening and connecting their own accounts. NYC Kids RISE, a non profit organization, manages the Save for College Program in partnership with the NYC Department of Education and the City of New York, with founding support from the Gray Foundation.

About Community Scholarships

“Funding Long Island City’s Future” is a Community Scholarship. Community Scholarships are a way for communities to leverage their unique neighborhood assets, institutions, and traditions to visibly and tangibly support their children’s educational futures. By enabling local stakeholders (businesses, neighbors, civic organizations, etc)  to support the NYC Scholarship Accounts in the ways and amounts that make sense for them, Community Scholarships are a customizable way to demonstrate community-wide support for every child’s future, encourage families to continue planning and saving for higher education, strengthen local ecosystems of success, and build generational wealth in the neighborhood. If you’re interested in launching a Community Scholarship, please contact NYC Kids RISE at [email protected]. Seamless, the Center of Hope International and Community Church of Astoria’s Concert for College, and, most recently, a Parent-to-Parent Community Scholarship are examples of Community Scholarships we’ve had to date that were deposited into the NYC Scholarship Accounts.


$350,000 in Community Scholarships raised to date:

Parent-to-Parent Community Scholarship at P.S. 92 in Corona

Students at P.S. 92 in Corona each received $60.48 deposited to their scholarship accounts through a partnership with the College Opportunity Fund. Read More…


Seamless Diners “Donate the Change”

NYC Kids RISE staff and community members celebrate over $300k deposited to NYC Scholarship Accounts

Seamless Diners raised over $300,000 for students across District 30 by rounding up their order totals and donating the difference in February 2018. Read More…


The Concert for College at Long Island City High School

Center of Hope International and the Community Church of Astoria donated the proceeds of their annual Black History Month concert to the accounts of Long Island City Students, raising over $20,000 in community support for college. Read More…


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