Planting the seeds with 529 accounts, financial literacy and community support
For the kindergarteners at Murrell Taylor Elementary School in Jacksonville, it seemed like a simple request: “I want you to draw your dreams.”
With crayons in hand and commendable concentration, the children quickly began creating pictures of what they hoped to be when they grew up. Some drew basketball players, ballerinas and superheroes. Others sketched firefighters, doctors and teachers. In older grades, kids added detailed comments, explaining the motive behind their ambitions. No matter the illustration, there was an underlying thread — all students were excited to share their wishes for the future.
That Thursday morning in Jacksonville, each child completed two cards — one to keep and one to share with us. In total, we gathered more than 400 snapshots of the future, forming one of the most profoundly meaningful collections I have ever held in my hands. The kids’ aims were high.
Among them, there was a fourth grader who wanted to be a nurse because, she said, “I want to save lives.” Another child aspired to “go to a good college for four years so I can be a lawyer or a doctor.” Also among them were budding veterinarians, programmers, astronomers and military service members. Each wish was authentic, displaying the childlike beauty of a future where anything is possible.
Along with the joy of those dreams, however, the exercise also revealed glimpses of the significant challenges the young people in our state face. One girl wanted to share her goals aloud in her class, but she did not yet know the words in English. Another child was worried that his mother would not believe him when he said he now had a college savings account in his own name — much less one with money already in it. With Generational Resources and Opportunities for Well-Being, or GROW, we aim to change that. How? By helping students, their families and their teachers transform their wishes into plans and plans into reality.
GROW partnered with the state treasurer’s office to automatically establish a 529 savings account for every student and teacher at Murrell Taylor Elementary. Tempus Realty Partners in Little Rock seeded an initial $600 while inviting students to earn up to $300 in additional deposits for reaching specific goals, such as maintaining strong attendance, hitting reading benchmarks and demonstrating positive classroom behavior. Teachers and administrators also received funded accounts, building a schoolwide culture of saving for the future.
With support from Economics Arkansas in Little Rock, GROW also developed tailored financial literacy lessons to help prepare participants to be good stewards of their accounts, and thanks to recent changes in federal law, those accounts now have the flexibility to apply to a wide range of futures. If not used for education, beneficiaries can roll the funds into a Roth IRA.
GROW is designed to support brighter futures — not just for those who dream of college, but for every kind of aspiration. It offers a clear path to the American Dream, the chance to build something lasting for oneself and one’s family. Too many children in Arkansas grow up in households and communities where there is no accumulated wealth to pass on to the next generation. GROW helps change that by placing real, growing assets in the hands of students — capital they can learn to manage and eventually use to pursue education, homeownership, entrepreneurship or retirement.
A child who begins kindergarten at Murrell Taylor Elementary can graduate with more than $10,000 in their own name, paired with the financial literacy to use it wisely. That early stake from GROW is more than a balance in an account — it is the beginning of generational wealth that can lift individuals and entire communities.
Research consistently shows that funded savings programs such as GROW improve attendance, test scores, behavior and more in schools, along with supporting lifelong financial health. Those dividends are undoubtedly important markers, but ultimately, GROW’s success will be measured in the lives of the children themselves. We want students to know their future is worth investing in and their community is behind them.
On that Thursday at Murrell Taylor Elementary, I saw those futures sketched in crayon. Through GROW, we are working to make sure students’ drawings are more than pictures of what might be but roadmaps of what can be. Why? Because every child deserves not just the chance to dream but the support to make those dreams real.
Dan Andrews is the managing partner and CEO of Tempus Realty Partners, an investorcentric real estate investment partnership, which launched GROW. Find out more at growarfutures.org.
