Financial wellness system Acorns recently announced a partnership with Project Destined, a nonprofit helping millions of Americans gain access to financial and investment literacy that has a program in Atlanta, according to a press release.

With its programming, Project Destined teaches inner-city students the fundamentals of real estate development and investing, right on their own streets. The program then lets them participate in and gain financially from the profits on real deals in which Project Destined invests.

Although this organization launched nearly four years ago, Project Destined has already run programs in Atlanta as well as New York City, Detroit, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami and Oakland, California. It has drawn major real estate partners, including Brookfield Asset Management, Walker and Dunlop, Cortland Properties and Unibail Rodamco Westfield.

As part of the program, students use an online learning platform that teaches them all the basics: from understanding cap rates to predicting profit. Then they hit the ground in teams, each focusing on one property. They formulate a full-scale investor pitch, which they then execute to a panel of real estate experts, Shark Tank-style. As a prize, students can get cash scholarships with the most $5,000 going to the winning team. Now, in a new partnership, they will also get personal accounts with Acorns.

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In this file photo from October 2024, Atlanta Braves outfielder Jorge Soler and teammates react after losing to the San Diego Padres 5-4 in San Diego. The Braves and Soler, who now plays for the Los Angeles Angels, face a lawsuit by a fan injured at a 2021 World Series game at Truist Park in Atlanta. (Jason Getz/AJC)

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