Kwame Owusu-Kesse

In May, the Harlem Children’s Zone announced a landmark strategy to chip away at the wealth gap. Over the course of the next year, the education nonprofit will invest $10,000 each on behalf of over 2,200 students, recent and future graduates from two charter schools it runs in New York City. The money is a part of the nonprofit’s Wealth Builds initiative, which combats inter­generational poverty. 

For Harlem Children’s Zone CEO Kwame Owusu-Kesse, who credits his education­—and the scholarships that underwrote it—with making possible the life he has had since, the work is personal. “I want my story to matter,” he said earlier this year. 

The funds will be professionally managed until students turn 25, and they are accompanied by conditions, including finishing high school and college. Their use is restricted to wealth-­building purposes, like education or a business investment. In total, Owusu-Kesse aims to raise $300 million for the program, eventually expanding to 10,000 students across 11 cities.