Funding partnerships help students attend, thrive at Drexel Mission Schools

Preschool students at Community of Saints Regional Catholic School in West St. Paul patiently waited at their desks Feb. 11 for their turn to distribute Valentines from colorful Valentine’s Day boxes. As a special treat, students in lower grades could wear pink or red instead of their uniforms.

The children largely reflected the school’s overall demographics, with about 65% of the student body Hispanic, 18% white and 11% Black or African American. Having at least 50% of students from communities of color is one of three criteria that the school meets for its designation by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a Drexel Mission School.

The other two criteria required of each school are having at least 100 students enrolled and having 50% or more of the student body eligible for free or reduced lunches, a commonly used indicator of low-income families.

The archdiocese launched the Drexel Mission Schools Initiative last year and designated nine Drexel schools for the 2020-2021 school year. The current initiative rose out of the archdiocese’s Roadmap for Excellence in Catholic Education, an effort launched in 2019 to coordinate a strategic approach over the next three to five years to strengthen Catholic education within the archdiocese. Jason Slattery, archdiocesan director of education, described the Drexel Mission Schools Initiative as a collaboration between the archdiocese and foundations and individuals “who have a real heart” for making Catholic education available for low-income students and students of color.

Previous efforts have taken place in the archdiocese to identify and serve mission schools. As recently as 2015, the archdiocese was focusing special efforts on 15 urban schools. Slattery said there’s more to the Drexel Mission Schools Initiative than money. “Funds need to be directed toward … a real commitment to advance excellence and the mission of the school,” he said. Drexel schools receive “supports” — largely funds and program opportunities from the foundations targeted at reducing the achievement gap and providing continuous academic improvement.

What’s new with this initiative is clear eligibility criteria, Slattery said, and a way to build community for Drexel Mission School leaders. “Part of the purpose of the initiative is to … connect them more … so they can share what’s working, what not’s working,” Slattery said, noting that includes “some of the struggles they have had through COVID.” Drexel Mission School families face greater food insecurity, he said, and for school leaders, it’s important to connect with one another as they seek solutions to their unique challenges.

“We’re trying to form minds and hearts,” Slattery said, but Drexel Mission Schools also are feeding children and making sure they’re safe. “And all of those things are important if we’re going to create an environment where you can teach.”

Overall, Slattery said, school neighborhoods and surrounding communities benefit when Drexel Mission Schools thrive and are able to remain a local anchor.

“As long as that school is there educating those kids, there’s that point of light in the community,” he said. “And it’s an opportunity for the Church to remain close to … communities with the highest concentration of people in need and to ensure … a hand up from poverty that a Catholic school offers through a good education.”

Catholic schools also educate the whole child, meaning that good test scores go hand in hand with instilling the virtues.

“Catholic schools are an antidote to that achievement opportunity gap,” Slattery said. “These are places where children are learning to read, they’re learning to write, they’re learning arithmetic. They’re learning the importance of good character. They’re learning about God’s work in the world that has a purpose for them. That’s an irreplaceable value in a community and particularly for kids who otherwise … wouldn’t have this opportunity.”

But, schools designated as Drexel Mission Schools Initiative can’t depend on the same funding streams that sustain other Catholic schools. “The traditional things — tuition, parish investment — they’re just not … possible,” he said.

In order to keep a Drexel Mission School as a community anchor, “then we’re going to have to find resources far beyond its parish boundary,” he said. “So, the thinking was a Drexel initiative that works with a community of donors and individuals that work together to provide needed stability to continue to serve those families of greatest need.”

“Drexel” refers to St. Katharine Drexel, who devoted her life and fortune to serving Native American and Black populations (for more on her life, see page 15). She entered religious life in 1889 and went on to establish 50 missions for Native Americans in 16 states. By 1942, her religious congregation had a system of Black Catholic schools in more than 13 states, 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools.

One benefit of the Drexel Mission Schools Initiative: More families who otherwise could not afford tuition are able to send their children to a Catholic school. Main funding sources are the Twin Cities-based GHR Foundation, the Aim Higher Foundation, the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota and individual donors who designate funds in support of the initiative, Slattery said.

Schools apply directly to the foundations, which know the nine schools designated as Drexel Mission Schools. The three foundations have pledged about $4 million for the current school year. The Catholic Services Appeal Foundation has also made “incredible contributions” to these nine schools, Slattery said.

More than 90% of families at Community of Saints receive some type of tuition assistance, said Principal Bridget Kramer. The Drexel Mission Schools Initiative links schools both to funding sources and established programs that benefit Catholic schools that serve at-risk populations in a range of areas. Community of Saints, it has introduced key programs and initiatives that support the school in living its mission and vision, leaders say. Examples include providing academic curriculum review, purchase and implementation; staff training in cultural competency; and “whole child resource reviews” through City Connects.

Being a Drexel Mission School qualifies all nine schools to be part of City Connects, a collaboration between Boston College, Catholic schools and community agencies, with an arm in the Twin Cities. Through an on-site coordinator who learns about the needs of every child in the school, the partnership identifies resources for families based on factors like a student’s emotional and social well-being, academics, family background and health.

At Blessed Trinity Catholic School in Richfield, another Drexel Mission School, a City Connects coordinator identifies what families and students need for success at school, said principal Patrick O’Keefe. He cited research from Boston College that shows about two-thirds of what impacts success at school actually has nothing to do with what’s happening inside the school.

On Feb. 11, down the hall from Community of Saints’ preschool, third graders concentrated on reading. The teacher spoke with two students at her desk using Chromebooks, while the rest of the class quietly read at their desks. A grant through a Higher-Powered Learning Program partnership with the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education enabled purchasing Chromebooks for students at the school, which Kramer said has been a critical resource during the pandemic.

A Higher-Powered Learning Program grant also helped the school transition to “blended learning,” which uses student-centered, adaptive software to reinforce concepts taught in the classroom, and provides immediate feedback for students and teachers.

“We received this support because we are a Drexel Mission School that showed interest in this professional development initiative,” Kramer said.

The school also benefits from grants relating to curriculum and staff development. A cultural competency grant supported the school’s efforts to be an inclusive and welcoming environment to all families, Kramer said.

She said the school is also implementing a new English Language Arts curriculum in classrooms, thanks to a curriculum grant it received as a Drexel Mission School.

At Blessed Trinity, a significant amount of grant work is directed to student scholarships, O’Keefe said, “which is really the key … piece of access to Catholic education.”

A number of relationships with different foundations and the archdiocese provides substantial student scholarships, which also unlock the opportunity for schools to do many other things, he said.

“To be intentional and to live a Catholic faith, and … provide an exceptional education experience for our families that have these high needs, means being able to give them access to the support they need to allow their children to fully flourish,” O’Keefe said.

“And that’s (through) the partnerships of scholarship aid to get them to school,” he added, “and the investments that those foundations are making, in making sure we have high quality curriculum and our teachers have the support they need to continue to provide an exceptional classroom experience.”

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FILLING THE GAP

St. John Paul II Catholic School in northeast Minneapolis opens its doors to any child who wants to enroll, said Tricia Menzhuber, the school’s principal.

“We fill the gap between the … tuition a family can afford and what it takes to educate a child,” she said. “Our tuition income is very static, and only about 2% of that revenue comes from tuition. Partnerships, particularly from foundations, along with private donors and grants, make up the bulk of how we are able to keep our doors open and serve the families that we do.”

Beyond tuition assistance, the GHR Foundation has funded a new English and language arts reading curriculum, as well as professional development and ongoing coaching for the strong implementation of that curriculum, Menzhuber said. And the foundation just announced that it will help with something similar for the school’s math curriculum resources, she said.

At JPII, 91% of the student body is composed of students of color, and of those, 76% are Hispanic or Latino. Seventy-nine percent of students are English language learners.

“Our families understand that they’re investing not just in these nine years of Catholic education — primary school — but that their students are really set up for success all the way through high school,” Menzhuber said. “One hundred percent of our (2016) eighth grade graduates graduated from high school last year.”

Seven-year-old Rafaella is a first-grader at St. John Paul II. Her mother wanted her daughter to have a Catholic education, just as she had in her native Ecuador.

“It was my dream for her,” she said. But, as a single parent, she did not think it was possible. Without a car, she looked to cut corners where she could, like switching phone plans and minimizing energy costs. Receiving financial help from her school felt like another dream, she said.

The mother of Anthony, Rafaella’s classmate, feels the same way. A single parent from Guatemala, she wanted her son to go to a Catholic school for a more rigorous education and, especially, for faith-based learning. And she hoped for in-person learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as online learning was difficult for their family’s situation.

Through a coworker, she heard of the financial assistance offered at St. John Paul II. “Thank God I met that ‘angel’ at my work,” she said, who, like Rafella’s mother, asked that their names not be used.

Families are grateful to receive assistance, said Community of Saint’s Kramer, but they also bring much to the school community. And some pay it forward.
“I’ve had families come back the next year and say, ‘I’m doing better now with jobs and I can pay more tuition’ (or) ‘I’d like to pay off someone’s lunch balance,’” Kramer said. “So, we definitely see so many different positives that come from this.”