A venture philanthropy fund that aims to expand private schools that serve low-income and working-class students, has begun making investments in Florida.

One early grant will provide $300,000 over three years to help Cristo Rey Tampa — a Catholic college-preparatory high school — to support its four-year school build-out.

The Tampa school opened its doors to ninth graders earlier this year, and will add one higher grade level per year as it grows to fill a remodeled boarding school that had previously stood vacant.

Initially targeting the states of Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Louisiana, Wisconsin and Indiana, the Drexel Fund has set a long-term goal of raising $85 million to support the creation of 50,000 new spaces for low- and middle-income students in high-quality private schools over eight years. (more…)

The new Cristo Rey Catholic School will be located at Tampa's Mary Help of Christians Center.

Why would a law firm want to hire a team of fourteen-year-old high school freshmen to work in its office?

Ordinarily, perhaps it wouldn’t. But, like 38 other employers in the region, the Gilbert Garcia Group in Tampa, Fla. has signed up for some new employees to support a unique approach to Catholic education that has made a difference for low-income and working-class students in other cities.

Michelle Garcia Gilbert, the firm’s president and CEO, says she wants employees to engage in “hands-on giving,” which is why she’s signed up to sponsor the soon-to-be-open Cristo Rey Tampa High School.

The new school, set to open this fall, will be the first Florida location for a national network of Catholic schools known for pushing low-income young people toward college, with a signature work-study program that helps cover their tuition and prepare them for the professional world.

Gilbert said she recognizes the potential impact the new school will make on the Tampa Bay community, and that she’s confident students with limited means but no shortage of “ability and interest” will be able to make a contribution at the office.

The college-preparatory Catholic school will be located in an East Tampa ZIP code where one in four residents has not completed high school. This presents a challenge for the network that boasts a 100 percent college acceptance rate for its graduates.

It’s a challenge the school welcomes with open arms, due to its Salesian identity. The Salesian order was founded in 1859 by Don Bosco, a Catholic priest-turned-saint whose mission was to be a friend to at-risk youths. The Salesian identity embraces “preventative” educational methods, which take a holistic approach to discipline by developing the whole person: body, heart, mind, and spirit. (more…)