Today and Tomorrow are equally important

This is an interesting story and one that I am not sure would work. While investing in the future of these children sounds like a great idea. I feel it is more important to make sure that they get a quality education so that they will be able to manage the money tomorrow. Children need a quality education today so that they are able to get really good jobs that will support them and their families and keep them out of the system tomorrow. Children need a quality education today so that they can keep up with the future tomorrow. The question is can we give the children a quality education today AND deposit money into their account for tomorrow?


City hatches nest egg savings plan for foster care grads
By KATHLEEN LUCADAMO DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Friday, July 27th 2007, 4:00 AM

In an effort to help young adults in foster care save cash, the city will match every $1 they bank with $2 - a bold program that can provide them with a $3,000 nest egg.
"They'll learn the value of saving for tomorrow," Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday at a Citibank branch in the Bronx.
The five-year pilot anti-poverty program is designed to teach those on the verge of leaving the foster care program financial skills because they don't have relatives to lean on when they exit the system.
Roughly 1,000 young adults age out of foster care annually, and many end up homeless, unemployed or in low-wage jobs.
After attending money management seminars, 450 participants, ages 17 to 21, will get individual development accounts in which they can start to save money, officials said.
The city will match the first $1,000 of each participant's deposit.
The program, which will be publicly and privately funded, is part of Bloomberg's battle to reduce poverty in the city.
The multiagency effort also involves giving cash to poor students who get good grades and struggling families who find time for medical checkups.
"When you are in foster care, you are put in a lot of situations, and either you are going to fall or move forward," said Mary Brown, a 20-year-old who says that she hopes to participate in the program.
She has been in foster care for seven years, works at a McDonald's, attends John Jay College and will be dropped from foster care by the time she turns 21.
"The education they will give behind some of the money. I think that will make a difference," said Brown.