Astoria Houses Invests in Children’s Futures

Through its campaign to raise $134,000 to support the college savings plans of its youngest residents, the Astoria Houses Tenant Association is expanding the well-known African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” to show that, sometimes, it takes a community to send children to college. 

Led by President Claudia Coger, the Tenant Association is raising money to deposit $1,000 into the college savings accounts of 134 rising first, second, and third grade students living in Astoria Houses. The Tenant Association is very close to reaching its goal: In just one month it has raised more than $100,000. (See the Community Scholarship fundraiser here.)  

The students’ college funds were created through the NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program, which was launched in 2017 to provide families, schools, and communities a way to work together to save for their children’s futures. The Astoria students already have a total of $21,000 in their accounts. 

Ms. Coger wanted to do more. “We said, ‘What can we do to increase the flow of funds not only to help the children, but also to encourage parents, friends, and families to invest more into the accounts so that it will help the children to have a vision of what’s possible for their futures?’ It may not be a lot now, but in the future and in the minds of the children, it could be the greatest thing that ever happened to them,” she said.  
 
The NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program provides every student in School District 30 in Queens enrolled in a participating NYC public school, starting in kindergarten, with a NYC Scholarship Account that is invested in a 529 plan to make college more achievable and accessible. More than 10,000 rising first, second grade, and third grade students have NYC Scholarship Accounts through NYC Kids RISE, including approximately 600 children from Astoria, Queensbridge, Ravenswood, and Woodside Houses. 
 
“Ms. Coger and the Astoria Houses Tenant Association have been leading and fighting for decades so that Astoria Houses can be a springboard of opportunity for the children that live there. This campaign is just the latest example of that,” said Debra-Ellen Glickstein, Executive Director of NYC Kids RISE. “Over the past three years, NYC Kids RISE has been proud to partner with the Astoria Houses community and others across Western Queens to provide universal college savings and community wealth-building accounts in this neighborhood.” 

Ms. Coger, 85, has been a resident of Astoria Houses since 1955 and has been Tenant Association President for many years. Her passion for education comes from her own personal story. As a child, she was a star student who skipped two grades, but being one of 10 siblings meant there was no money for college. Ms. Coger wants to help youth have the opportunities that she and her siblings didn’t have.  
 
“We have some brilliant people, and the opportunities are not there or people don’t see the opportunities and they make bad choices,” Ms. Coger said. “I think the system is set up for a certain group of people to fail. But we can overcome this. It’s going to take togetherness and we’re going to have to start to invest and do things, we have to get knowledge. I’m just hoping that this message will catch on fire outside of Astoria and spread throughout the Black and Hispanic communities.” 

The Astoria Houses Tenant Association’s community scholarship effort is the first ever to be led by a NYCHA resident association and will be the largest community scholarship raised for each child to date.  

There are sure to be more community scholarship efforts to come for the children of Astoria Houses and other NYCHA developments. NYC Kids RISE plans to expand the Save for College Program citywide in the future. Ms. Glickstein said, “We are inspired by Astoria Houses’ innovative campaign, and we hope to work with resident associations across the city in future years to drive real wealth into every NYCHA community and invest in every single child.”