Operation HOPE and Atlanta Public Schools Celebrate 10,000th Child Savings Account Milestone, Capping Off Financial Literacy Month

April 30, 2025 at 12:09 PM EDT

Operation HOPE CEO and APS Superintendent Join Students at TAG Academy in Atlanta for Green Socks Day Celebration, Coinciding with National Efforts to Advance Financial Literacy and Marking a Major Milestone in Youth Financial Empowerment

Operation HOPE and Atlanta Public Schools (APS) celebrated a major milestone in their ongoing partnership: the opening of over 10,000 child savings accounts since launching their initiative to provide APS kindergarten students with a free savings account seeded with an initial $50 deposit to be grown over time and used for college or trade school expenses. Operation HOPE Founder Chairman and CEO John Hope Bryant and APS Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson joined students at Tuskegee Airmen Global (TAG) Academy today, the final day of Financial Literacy Month, to celebrate the achievement and Green Socks Day, a national movement to raise awareness of the need for financial literacy and to celebrate progress made in empowering individuals – especially youth – with the tools to build a secure financial future.

The Atlanta Child Savings Program was launched in 2022, and since then, 10,596 accounts have been opened, with 2,387 opened so far this year, for students across more than 40 APS schools. With the goal of increasing financial literacy and expanding higher education opportunities for children from low-income households, the City of Atlanta partnered with Operation HOPE to launch the citywide Child Savings Account (CSA) program for all qualifying kindergartners. Each participating student will receive an academic-expense savings account seeded with an initial $50 deposit, designed to grow over time through additional family and community contributions. Families will also have access to free, individualized financial coaching through Operation HOPE’s network of certified financial wellness coaches. Together, these tools will help students and parents manage the accounts and foster long-term savings habits throughout the child's academic journey.

“We’re proud to mark this important achievement alongside Atlanta Public Schools. Reaching 10,000 accounts means we’ve created 10,000 opportunities for young people to build a brighter financial future. This is just the beginning—we look forward to continuing to grow this partnership, expand financial literacy, and support the dreams and futures of Atlanta’s students for years to come,” said Mr. Bryant. “The success of this program is exactly what Green Socks Day is all about—raising awareness and celebrating the progress we’re making in ensuring that every child and family has the opportunity to build a strong financial foundation.”

For more details about the Atlanta CSA, click here.

About Operation HOPE, Inc.

Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to "silver rights" with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved—disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through its community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4 million individuals and directed more than $3.2 billion in economic activity into disenfranchised communities—turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. For more information: OperationHOPE.org. Follow the HOPE conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.