Catholic Philanthropists Build Sustainable Models for Catholic Schools

Catholic philanthropists are helping create sustainable models for Catholic schools, explains Christine Healey, FADICA Affinity Group co-chair on Catholic Schools and President of the Healey Education Foundation, in a recent interview with National Catholic Reporter.

  In the article, Signs of Hope for Catholic Schools, Christine recounts how in 1997 her father Robert Healey, working closely with the diocese of Camden and other foundations, helped devise a new model to save five failing inner city schools in Camden, NJ.  Thus Catholic Partnership Schools was formed.  All five schools have streamlined human resources operations, a new testing model, and are equipped with wireless internet access.  The foundation also awards a matching grant to each school to hire development staff to raise funds for the school. “The deep history of Catholic school as foundational to the church tugs on the heartstrings,” says Christine. Catholic philanthropists “now have the resources to help, not just the money, but the entrepreneurial experience.”