Thanks to a program offered by a local community foundation, rising first-graders at Silver Spring’s Jackson Road Elementary School will face a brighter financial future once they graduate from high school.
The Greater Washington Community Foundation surprised the students’ families at the school’s June 10 kindergarten promotion ceremony with the opportunity to enroll their children in a program that would provide at least $13,000 for each child by the time they graduate, according to the school and foundation officials.
The Brilliant Futures program is led by the community foundation, a public trust foundation based in the Washington, D.C. region that raises philanthropic capital to disperse through grants and funds and matches donors to nonprofits.
“It was really just an emotional thing to watch, but then also the parents, I think, were in shock at first because it sounds too good to be true,” Jackson Road Principal Rosario Velasquez told MoCo360 Wednesday about the surprise.
The program will place $1,000 into a savings fund for each enrolled child each year from kindergarten through 12th grade, according to the community foundation. The goal of the program is to provide each student with access to at least $13,000 upon graduating from high school or receiving a high school equivalent credential by age 24. Upon reaching that milestone, the young adult will be the only person with access to the savings fund and can put the money toward ongoing education and training, buying a home or starting a business, according to the community foundation.
Jackson Road Elementary at 900 Jackson Road in the White Oak area of Silver Spring is the first Montgomery County public school where the Brilliant Futures program is being piloted. The program also was launched this month at Bradbury Heights Elementary School in Prince George’s County.
Describing the program as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Velasquez said she couldn’t say no when the Community Foundation and Montgomery County Public Schools officials told her that her school had been selected to participate in the program.
“To have our students have [this] opportunity, it just means the world to us. We’re so excited for our kids,” said Velasquez, who is finishing her fifth year as principal of the school.
The Community Foundation has committed to funding the program for two consecutive kindergarten cohorts at each school and is expected to enroll up to 400 students, according to a news release.
Tonia Wellons, president and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation, told MoCo360 on Friday the two schools were selected based on their location in “priority neighborhoods.” These neighborhoods typically consist of low- to moderate-income households and have a low homeownership rate, she said.
Wellons noted the foundation also worked with MCPS to identify which of the district’s 136 elementary schools would be the best fit for the program.
Jackson Road Elementary School is designated as a federal Title I school. Title I funding is provided to schools with high numbers of children from low-income families and is used to support “social-emotional learning, extra instruction in reading and mathematics, additional teachers, materials of instruction, as well as after-school and summer programs,” according to the State Department of Education website.
In the 2022-2023 school year, more than 660 students were enrolled at Jackson Road, with 79.6% of students receiving Free and Reduced Meals (FARMs) services, a measure of poverty, according to MCPS data. Within the student population, about 48% of students were Black or African American and about 40% were Hispanic/Latino.
At the heart of the Brilliant Futures program is addressing the region’s racial wealth gap, Wellons said. According to research by the Baltimore-based private philanthropy Annie E. Casey Foundation, having an asset like a children’s savings account can close the racial wealth gap in a community by as much as 28%.
“All of the studies show that when people are given or awarded these kinds of investments, they make good use of them. … When people know that there’s an asset waiting for them it does impact behavior positively. It impacts kids’ attendance in school and academic performance,” Wellons said.
Citing research from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, she also noted that students enrolled in similar programs are four times more likely to graduate on time and go to college. “This is a data-driven, proven solution and we’re just really happy to be able to bring it here in Montgomery County and in our broader region,” Wellons said.
Sam Bouchelle, a Jackson Road Elementary School parent and treasurer of the school’s PTA, said he is planning to enroll his daughter in the program, which he sees as a way to potentially increase the district’s graduation rate.
“[The Brilliant Futures program] seems like a pretty good incentive to just stay in [school] a little bit longer. If you’re really thinking about dropping out or, you know, if you’re kind of weighing your options, seems like it’d be a pretty good motivator to make you want to complete,” he told MoCo360 on Thursday.
The Brilliant Futures program is a public-private partnership between MCPS and Prince George’s County Public Schools and the Community Foundation. The program is funded by $10 million in contributions raised by the foundation’s “Together, We Prosper Campaign for Economic Justice” and investments from “generous donors,” according to the community foundation website.
As of Friday, 46 families had enrolled in the program and the foundation expects to enroll all 86 rising first-graders at the school, Wellons said.
Once students are enrolled and funds are deposited into their savings accounts, families and students will connect with the Kensington-based Parent Encouragement Program. The nonprofit organization, which provides online and in-person programming for parents, will work with the families and follow the students through 12th grade to answer questions and provide financial guidance, according to Velasquez.
“If I had $13,000 that I could access when I graduated high school to use for my schooling, [that] would have made a huge difference for me,” Velasquez said. “Because then I would have had something to start with. Or even just knowing that I have a savings account for me waiting when I graduate would have probably pushed me a little harder to do much better in school or to just think about the future.”