Sustaining Catholic Education in and for the Black Community
By Lois J. Carson, Sr. Roberta Fulton, S.S.M.N., Dorothy Gupton, Veronica Morgan-Lee, Freida D. McCray, Mary Crowley McDonald, Kathleen A. Merritt, Sr. Jamie T. Phelps, O.P., Ph.D., Brother Gary Sawyer, ECSA, Deacon Marvin Threatt, PhD.
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Foundations
Model 4: Big Shoulders Fund
The mission of the Big Shoulders Fund is to provide support to the Catholic schools in the neediest areas of inner-city Chicago. One hundred percent of the money raised by the Big Shoulders Fund is used to support children through scholarships, special education programs, instructional equipment, much needed school facility improvements, faculty support, and operating grants. The Big Shoulders Fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Serving both Catholics and non-Catholics, the schools supported by the Big Shoulders Fund are seen as anchors in their communities and in the lives of the families they serve. The goal of the fund is to provide inner city Catholic schools with the resources to prepare Chicago's young people for a productive future. The Big Shoulders Fund seeks to offer inner city children and their parents the opportunity to have a faithbased, value-centered education.
Model 5: Foundation for the Nativity & Miguel Schools
The mission of the Foundation for the Nativity & Miguel Schools (FNMS) is to sustain the viability and vitality of several reopened inner city Catholic schools. The foundation looks to strengthen the schools' capacity to serve students and families. Nativity & Miguel schools welcome families and children affected by extreme poverty.
Founded by the Jesuits in 1971, the Nativity Mission School in New York was the first school opened with this new approach. As a neighborhood-based middle school (grades 5 through 8), children enroll into a year-round 8 to 10 hour school day. This extended school day model has three components: the regular class time; the “renaissance program” for after-school extra learning, games, or sports; followed by supper and a structured study hall. The students enjoy three daily food servings and a summer camp program.
Education often falls at the bottom of the priority list for low-income and immigrant families. They battle unemployment, subsidized housing, single parenting issues, and language barriers. Simply getting a child to and from school is a formidable challenge when the family has to consider transportation, late after-school programs, darkness, and neighborhood gangs.
Spread across 27 states, these schools serve over 4,000 students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The students maintain a 97 percent attendance rate. Ninety percent of the students go on to complete their high school education, and 80 percent of the graduates attend either two or four-year colleges and universities.
The FNMS is dedicated to the growth of these sources of hope for children from our country's urban areas. To advance this work, FNMS:
- Seeks broad funding on a national level for projects that benefit our
member schools;
- Conducts training conferences for school personnel, the compilation
and distribution of best practices, standards for outcome assessment,
and other joint ventures; and
- Works to increase the visibility and support of Nativity &
Miguel schools across the country.
Model 6: Seeds of Hope Charitable Trust
In January 1987, six Catholic elementary schools joined efforts to ensure quality education for economically disadvantaged children in inner- city Denver. Known as the S.U.N. (Schools in Urban Neighborhoods) schools, they serve predominantly single-parent households in areas profoundly impacted by poverty and violence.
The Seeds of Hope Charitable Trust was established in 1996 to expand the reach of the S.U.N. program. Seeds of Hope is a partnership between the Archdiocese of Denver and local business and community leaders.
Seeds of Hope supports the S.U.N. schools and other Catholic elementary schools serving low-income, high minority populations in innercity Denver. More than 90 percent of the students in these schools have a minority background, and more than 70 percent of the money distributed by Seeds of Hope goes directly to these schools.
Model 7: Extra Mile Foundation
The mission of the Extra Mile Education Foundation is to support the education of urban children in select parochial elementary schools in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The Extra Mile Foundation provides student scholarship support to one Catholic school, and operational support to four additional Catholic schools.
These schools are in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, and students are primarily African American and non-Catholic. Extra Mile is dedicated to sustaining these schools for their communities as a needed supplement to the financial commitments of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the schools, and the parents and families of the children.
As this chapter demonstrates, sustaining Catholic Education to and for the Black community is a reality, as a result of the ingenuity, sacrifice, and determination of many urban school communities.
Although having sufficient funding to keep schools open is crucial, a quality education is not complete without competent teachers, administrators, and staff. Chapter Two outlines the resources needed to achieve these objectives.
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