It’s an expensive and long-simmering investment that by definition will take a generation of sustained political willpower to truly bear fruit. “And then having an account with money in it for them.” “Think about all those young folks who are going to be here in a city trapped in poverty, graduated from high schools turning 18,” McDuffie said. The clock started ticking in October and as of mid-August the city has so far identified 833 babies born since then who will receive up to $25,000 when they turn 18. “Think about all the things that people with money do to support themselves or what parents do for kids,” said Kenyan McDuffie, a District of Columbia Council member who pushed through Washington’s Baby Bonds program last summer.
At age 18, each enrolled child would receive a large lump sum payment that can be used to pay for higher education, invest in a business or make a down payment on a home. Lawmakers from coast to coast are monitoring the experiment, one that proponents say could reshape America’s growing wealth gap in a single generation if instituted on a federal level.ĭespite the name, the bonds are more accurately trust funds, designed to provide a boost of capital at a critical time in the lives of the country’s poorest children. In just over a decade, the Baby Bonds idea has moved from a fringe leftist concept to actual policy, with the District of Columbia as the first laboratory. “It would be such a different opportunity for him, a lot different than what I had,” Manning said of her soon-to-arrive baby. The money is to be used for a handful of purposes, including education. Called “Baby Bonds,” the program will provide children of the city’s poorest families with up to $25,000 when they reach adulthood. She sees a brighter future for that baby, thanks to a landmark social program being pioneered in Washington. She still has student debt and there’s a baby boy on the way. Now she lives largely on public assistance in a two-bedroom apartment with her boyfriend, his mother and his 9-year-old daughter from another relationship. “I knew I wasn’t going to finish so I just had fun.”Īfter a year, Manning, 25, was back in the nation’s capital working fast food jobs. WASHINGTON (AP) - Aaliyah Manning’s dreams of becoming a psychologist ended abruptly during her freshman year at Potomac State in West Virginia when the cost of continuing her education became overwhelming.
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