A $10,000 Investment in Some Children’s Futures

Good morning. It’s Monday. What if you had been given $10,000 to invest when you were 5 years old? Today we’ll find out about a program that is doing just that. Also, watch your inbox later this afternoon for our new Street Wars series on the battle for space on the streets of New York City.

Credit…Anna Watts for The New York Times

It’s an intriguing idea: Give a student $10,000 to invest when he or she is as young as 5. Fast-forward to when he or she is 25 or so, and — thanks to professional money managers and accrued interest — there could be roughly two and a half times that amount to spend.

There are strings attached. The money can go only for projects that would add to the students’ net worth, like the down payment on a house or an apartment. Nothing frivolous.

A nonprofit called the Harlem Children’s Zone is raising private capital for the program, called Wealth Builds. I asked Stefanos Chen, a Metro reporter who writes about the job market and the changing business landscape in New York City, to explain the promise of the program.

Who will get the $10,000? How are the recipients being chosen?

The entire student body at two K-12 charter schools that Harlem Children’s Zone runs, called Promise Academy — about 2,200 students in all.