A new program that sets out to help spark an early interest in real estate among inner-city teens is borrowing some star power to grow its efforts.
Project Destined, which recently won the support of former baseball legend Alex Rodriguez and singer-actress Jennifer Lopez, teaches teens financial literacy through investments in real estate. The teens are taught how to value and finance local apartment buildings and then are given the opportunity to share in real profits from those properties, CNBC reports.
"Everything we do is pragmatic,” says Cedric Bobo, principal and co-founder of Project Destined and a former executive with the Carlyle Group. "Real estate is tangible, and having grown up in a household where you've seen your parents lose your home, real estate plays an ever-present part of your life."
Project Destined gives teens access to real estate industry professionals and allows them to analyze real opportunities for helping to invest real capital into real estate within their community.
"I also think it's easy to understand for kids, so my philosophy in life is, I want you to be a part of your neighborhood's change; I don't want you just to be watching," says Bobo.
Bobo first launched the project in Detroit, though it's being piloted elsewhere. The plan is to grow Project Destined into a network of young investors who will able to work together on future projects. Lopez says she supports the program because the skills and perspectives it offers are hard to come by for many young people.
"This project is such a special thing because it's teaching children at this level in inner cities to know what it is to actually own something very early," Lopez told CNBC. "I have been in entertainment and branding for 25 years now, but this is a whole other language that most people don't know, and to be able to teach this to kids that don't have the Harvard education is a beautiful thing because it's not just about owning your life, it's not about owning property.”
Source: “Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez Boost Program That Teaches Inner City Kids About Real Estate,” CNBC (March 5, 2018)
