School Days Thatshine
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2013 ANNUAL REPORT School days thatShine Extra Mile Education Foundation helps urban children and their families meet the challenge of obtaining a values-based, quality education from pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade. FACTS ABOUT THE EXTRA MILE EDUCATION FOUNDATION - 2013 PURPOSE To provide financial support for children from urban, economically disadvantaged families seeking a quality, values-based education from select elementary schools, thereby keeping tuition at affordable levels. SCHOOLS Operational Subsidy Basis: ST. BENEDICT THE MOOR, Hill District, Pittsburgh, PA SR. THEA BOWMAN CATHOLIC ACADEMY, Wilkinsburg, PA Scholarship Basis: EAST CATHOLIC, Forest Hills NORTHSIDE CATHOLIC, Brighton Heights ST. BARTHOLOMEW, Penn Hills COMBINED ENROLLMENT Over 600 children from early childhood through eighth grade DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE Student population is predominantly African American and non-Catholic. More than 70 percent qualifying for free/reduced-price lunches, and 60 percent live in single-parent families. ACCREDITATION Middle States Association of College and Schools PARTICIPATION Daily attendance is 95 percent. Parent participation in educational conferences is 97 percent. All families pay at least a portion of the $2,000 tuition, a 30% share of the cost of education per child. Quality of the education and values transmitted in the schools are equally important for families. COLLABORATIONS EDUCATION COMMUNITY Carlow University – staff development, gifted students, classroom tutors, teacher practicums Duquesne University – instrumental music, technology training Grove City College – student teachers, practicums for education majors LaRoche College – programming for gifted students Robert Morris University - classroom practicum for education majors St. Vincent College – Challenge Program SummerBridge of Sewickley Academy – summer program and after-school tutors University of Pittsburgh – staff development, tutors, evaluation, reading interns Triple P Program SOCIAL SERVICE COMMUNITY Office for Cultural Diversity – diversity classes, annual graduates retreat City of Pittsburgh Drug Awareness Resistance Education (DARE) Homewood and Hill District YMCA – after-school programs Laughlin Children’s Center – hearing screening, remediation services Mercy Behavioral Health – prevention training, “Dancing Classrooms” CULTURAL COMMUNITY Carnegie Museums – student visits Carnegie Science Center – classroom assemblies, student visits The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust – tickets for special performances Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera – tickets for performances Pittsburgh Symphony – visits to the schools Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium – school programs and visits RESULTS 1,500 eighth-grade graduates 96 percent high-school graduation rate 88 percent pursue learning after high school – in college, trade school or the military No one entering high school has to repeat ninth grade. FINANCIALS Budget for 2012-2013 school subsidy was $1,850,000, representing 65 percent of the cost of education. Remaining support comes from tuition, school-based fund-raising, parish subsidies and from the Diocese of Pittsburgh. SOURCES OF SUPPORT Local corporations, foundations, and individuals who care about the future of children in the community. A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN ear Friends, In these schools, In this past year, we have dedicated teachers broadened involvement among Extra Mile supports challenge children young professionals thanks the education of to reach within to our Young Professionals D urban children themselves and Advisory Committee (YPAC), in a faith-based learn. In these which has enabled us to reach environment that emphasizes schools, children come to out to more people through a culture of caring, mutual the realization that they have sponsorships and events. respect and high expectations. talents, that they matter, that The importance of our work they have well-formed lives We thank all those who support cannot be overstated. to live for their families, their this essential cause, from long- communities, for themselves. time donors to those who joined Thanks to Extra Mile, and all us for the first time this year. those who support it, parents Additionally, scholarship And we continue to invite more have access to two excellent support is made available and more to join us. elementary schools for their to urban children attending children: St. Benedict the Moor several other Catholic schools in the Hill District and Sr. Thea serving urban neighborhoods. Bowman Catholic Academy J. Christopher Donahue in Wilkinsburg. Chairman of the Board A MESSAGE FROM BISHOP DAVID A. ZUBIK y Dear Friends, educational and answered a call from a friend moral foundation to learn about Extra Mile and On behalf of the and a future then funded a scholarship Extra Mile Education with limitless program. Foundation and the opportunities. Diocese of Pittsburgh, Thank you all so very much. I thank and salute And you are all our supporters — from making it possible for people Grateful for our belief that generous donors to community and organizations to join us. “Nothing is impossible with partners and volunteers such Faculty members at Duquesne God,” I am as the young professionals University’s School of Music, Your brother in Christ, group that helps to raise as an example, have formed money and awareness within a band program for middle their peer groups. school children at St. Benedict the Moor. A lawyer designed Most Reverend David A. Zubik Through your support and a mock trial program for Bishop of Pittsburgh involvement, you are extending eighth graders at Sr. Thea a hand that gives children with Bowman Catholic Academy. limited opportunities a firm A retired business professional A MESSAGE FROM THE YOUNG PROFESSIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (YPAC) n its third year, Extra Mile’s Young Professional Advisory Committee (YPAC) continues to execute its vision of serving as a team of diverse, creative, and energetic individuals that support Extra Mile’s mission of helping children and their families meet the challenge of obtaining a values-based, quality education. To date, we have raised more than $80,000 in unrestricted funding through our increasingly successful annual Extra Bases for Extra Mile fundraiser, Sponsor a Student campaign drives, direct giving and other miscellaneous fundraising activities. These funds directly enable Extra Mile to continue its critical mission of shaping not only the future of the children and families it supports, but the communities in which it operates. Moving forward, we are thrilled to continue supporting the Extra Mile as a volunteer body and to identify further ways to build awareness, raise funding and invoke thoughtful leadership. From everyone on the Young Professional Advisory Committee, we thank you for your continuing support of the Extra Mile Education Foundation. Sincerely, Shawn O’Brien President - YPAC T 2013 YEAR IN REVIEW An Extra Mile-supported education offers so much more than reading, writing, and arithmetic! That is where Extra Mile’s partners enter the picture. Our corporate partners give our students and teachers opportunities to experience learning - whether it’s curriculum or social skills — in new and creative ways. We are very grateful to our generous partners. Cyberchase Sr. Thea Bowman rotate annually) where they lead the third grade A phone call in the late winter in activities that both engage and of 2007 was the start of a excite the students. The five-week great partnership. Cyberchase program concludes with a field was a PBS children’s program trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo and sponsored nationally by Ernst & certificates of achievement for Young. The program’s animated each participant. heroes were regularly confronted by problems that involved the use Ernst & Young volunteers have of good math skills to solve. In gone beyond Cyberchase in Extra Mile classrooms to addition to its corporate support, social skills as it improves provide Christmas gifts, outdoor Ernst & Young wanted to involve children’s confidence and their landscaping with assistance from employees in the classroom using ability to relate to others.” — the eighth grade, and planting the the television program as part DancingClassroomsPittsburgh.org of the instruction. They enlisted school’s brand-new urban garden. the aid of the public television The Dancing Classrooms program affiliate in each of the cities where was introduced to the Extra Mile they had a major presence and Dancing Classrooms schools through the collaborative work of Mercy Behavioral Health, planned their volunteer activity. Dancing Classrooms launched which operates the program, and in 1994 as a not-for-profit When one of the selected cities McAuley Ministries, which funded project of the American withdrew from participation, the program in its inaugural year. William Thomas — an Extra Mile Ballroom Theater Company. It alumnus who works for Ernst & is an arts-in-education program Begun as a classroom activity Young in New York — suggested that teaches ballroom dance for fifth-grade students, Dancing the city of Pittsburgh and Extra to students of participating Classrooms now includes an Mile as perfect partners for schools. Dancing Classrooms is eighth-grade component that Cyberchase. an in-school residency for every allows students who participated child, regardless of his or her in fifth grade an opportunity to For five weeks each May, a team background or experience. brush up on their dance skills. of volunteers arrive at the chosen school (St. Benedict and “While Dancing