In 1989, John W. Rogers, Jr. chairman and founder of Ariel Investments, created the Ariel Foundation. In 1991, the Ariel Foundation “adopted” forty sixth grade students at William Shakespeare Elementary on the south side of Chicago and promised to make college affordable for every student who graduated from high school. Through these efforts, the Foundation attempted to create a program that could serve as a model for serving inner city youth involving academic enrichment, mentoring, family support, leadership development and community service opportunities. The experience with the sixth grade class encouraged the Ariel Foundation to do more. Through Mayor Daley’s New School Initiative Program, Ariel was awarded a corporate sponsorship of a Chicago public school. Hence, the birth of Ariel Community Academy – a public school located on the south side of Chicago. The Ariel Foundation has since been incorporated as Ariel Education Initiative (AEI). Currently, Ariel Community Academy (ACA) offers classes from kindergarten through eighth grade serving 440 students and their families. Ninety-eight percent of the student body is African American and over 85 percent of the students receive subsidized lunches. AEI chose to target the North Kenwood neighborhood in 1991 precisely because it was one of the most underserved communities in Chicago. Today, the neighborhood is more vibrant, and ACA is a center for community and family life. After a decade-long rehabilitation, the school building at 46th Street and Greenwood Avenue has been restored to house ACA as well as the University of Chicago’s North Kenwood Oakland Charter School. ACA’s impact extends well beyond the building itself, creating higher academic standards and achievements through a unique corporate-family-school partnership. In short, the vision remains to create a model community school—where the doors are always open; where teachers, parents and members of the community work in partnership to provide world-class educational opportunities and where financial literacy is not just taught but practiced.
ARIEL COMMUNITY ACADEMY RESULTS:
Composite: Percentage of students who meet or exceed state standards
Math Composite: Percentage of students who meet or exceed state standards
Beyond the student achievement on standardized tests, almost 1/3 of Ariel graduates pass out of Algebra before their freshman year—a major achievement considering the dire statistics around math competency and graduation rates in typical public schools. Almost 70 percent of all ACA graduates are now attending selective enrollment high schools and have reported back to the Academy with news they have transitioned smoothly.
ARIEL-NUVEEN INVESTMENT PROGRAM
In the early years the money is invested and managed by a group comprised of representatives from Ariel and Nuveen. However, as the students advance through the school’s unique investment curriculum, they become actively involved in making the investment decisions. In fact, a Junior Board of Directors (made up of seventh and eighth grade students) is ultimately responsible for deciding how the $20,000 is invested. Upon graduation all profits that have accumulated in the class’ account are divided in half. One half is given by the students in the form of a class gift to improve the school. The other half is distributed among the graduates as cash or matched contributions toward a 529 college savings plan, depending on each student’s choice. The original $20,000 grant is then turned over to the next incoming first grade class, making the program self-perpetuating.
In addition to the curriculum taught by the full-time Investment Program director, a veteran of the securities industry, AEI offers parents quarterly financial literacy/investment dinners where we provide free childcare services and arrange for speakers to lead discussions on a variety of topics ranging from the basics of investing and saving to the differences between a Roth and a Traditional IRA. The Investment Program Director, Connie Moran, was the recipient of the “Teacher of the Year” award from the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). This award is given to 40 teachers across the globe. Connie was the only recipient in Illinois.
AEI also encourages discussions at home by sending parents our semi-annual publication, investEd, which is filled with updates on the students’ activities, economic games for kids, and general financial advice. The ultimate goal of the Ariel-Nuveen Investment Program is to increase economic and investment literacy within the African American community and to bring the topic of investing to every dinner table in Black America. Most recently, last year’s class ended the year with a profits of nearly $15,000 in their 8th grade class account. After returning the original $20,000 to the incoming first grade and contributing about $7,500 toward a new sound system for the auditorium, more than 95% of the graduates chose to invest their profits in the Illinois Bright Start 529 Plan. This year, for those students who opted for the 529 Plan, Ariel Education Initiative matched the graduates’ earnings with an additional $1,000.
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