CSF Chair Mike McCurry Makes Case for Choice

This morning, CSF Chairman Mike McCurry addressed the Alliance for School Choice summit, discussing how he came to be involved with Children’s Scholarship Fund and parental choice. He urged education reformers and policymakers to remain above the fray and focus on the positive stories of children and parents who are helped by scholarships and choice programs rather than demonizing opponents of choice.

“My suggestion is that we should be thinking of this movement as part of the antidote to the poison that’s now invaded our political system,” McCurry said, adding that reformers should “make this an issue that’s not about left and right and not about Republican and Democrat but about what works for kids and what doesn’t work.”

Telling the story of Jason Tejada, a CSF alumnus who is graduating from Columbia University this week and starting a job at J.P. Morgan, McCurry said the power of stories like Jason’s give energy to fuel the fight for better options for families unlucky enough to live in a zip code with low-performing schools.

McCurry also called for an increased emphasis on the quality rather than quantity of choices available, noting that not every charter school or private school is high-performing. However, he remained optimistic and encouraged the audience to continue working for parental choice.

“We’ve got to stay the course, continue to do the hard work, go big, go bold, …to make sure we get to that destination in which every child in this country goes to a school that equips them for their future and every parent has the opportunity to make a choice about how that kid will be educated,” he concluded.

You can watch the speech online here and read more from Redefined’s blog here.

Philanthropy magazine cover story on choice features CSF

The latest issue of Philanthropy magazine features a cover story on education reformers who balance charitable giving with advocacy and direct political engagement.

In the piece, former CSF Tampa Bay Founder John Kirtley says that when the CSF partner program received more than 12,000 applications for its first 700 scholarships, he became convinced that philanthropy alone could not meet the demand. Kirtley went on to fight for a statewide corporate tax credit program which today serves more than 50,000 children throughout Florida. You can read the entire article here.

Help CSF Philadelphia Win $250,000 in the Philly DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards

CSF’s partner, Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia (CSFP), is competing in the first ever Philly DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards contest and the polls are now open. Up to $250,000 in resources are at stake, and your vote will help CSFP win!

To enter the contest, CSFP teamed up with filmmaker Karin Kelly and her team to create a short film over a period of 10 days. The film tells CSFP’s story and underscores the educational opportunity CSFP provides to children from low-income families. This year, nearly 3,500 Philly children are using CSFP scholarships to get a  quality, tuition-based, K-8th grade education.

You can view the video and place your vote by visiting: http://www.phillyinfocus.com/dogooder-awards/#!/entry/999751. Don’t forget, you can vote once every day until voting closes on January 31^st. Please vote now and encourage your friends and family to vote also.

CSF President Honored By Tri-County Scholarship Fund

This fall, Tri-County Scholarship Fund, a CSF partner program offering private school scholarships to low-income children in Morris, Passaic and Sussex counties in New Jersey, honored both J. Peter Simon and CSF President Darla Romfo at its annual dinner. More than 600 people came out to support the honorees and the scholarship recipients the Fund assists.

At the Nov. 19th Tri-County Scholarship Fund Annual Awards Dinner: Tri-County Executive Director Gregory Floyd; J. Peter Simon, Hall of Fame honoree, and Timothy I. Duffy, Tri-County Chairman.

Mr. Simon, co-chairman of W.E. Simon and Sons and the William E. Simon Foundation, praised Tri-County’s work as he accepted its Hall of Fame award, noting, “In this past year, every Tri-County senior graduated from high school and 99% of them went on to college. A high school education is a game-changer in people’s life pattern for earnings.”

Timothy I. Duffy, Chairman of Tri-County Scholarship Fund, presents the Making a Difference Award to CSF President Darla Romfo.

Originally, the awards dinner was planned for October 29^th, but following Hurricane Sandy the dinner was rescheduled for November 19^th. Due to the schedule change, Ms. Romfo was unable to attend the dinner, and Tri-County Scholarship Fund presented her with its Making a Difference Award at a dinner in Manhattan.

To find out more about Tri-County Scholarship Fund and the children it helps, please visit www.tcsfund.org.

CSF Co-Founder John Walton Enters Philanthropy Hall of Fame

Children’s Scholarship Fund is honored to note that our co-founder John T. Walton is one of 50 philanthropists who comprise Philanthropy Roundtable’s newly-launched Hall of Fame.

The list of donors honored also includes household names such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and J.P. Getty as well as some lower-profile philanthropists. But each of the individuals highlighted was chosen by Philanthropy Roundtable because he or she “changed the nation and the world.”

Please take a moment to read the Hall of Fame profile of John Walton by author Naomi Schaefer Riley and learn about the valuable contributions he made, not only by co-founding CSF, but by investing in a wide-ranging portfolio of education reform and parental choice efforts (and encouraging others to join him) with the goal of “an all-out revolution in education.”

CSF Debuts New Video

Just before last week’s screening of Won’t Back Down, CSF debuted our new motion graphic video, The Children’s Scholarship Fund Solution.

Watch the video to see how CSF is tackling the education crisis and how CSF scholarships are empowering parents to choose better schools for their children, putting them on the path to a better future.

Click above to watch the new CSF video.

CSF featured in the Arnold Foundation’s Giving Library

The Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF) is honored to be included in the Laura and John Arnold Foundation’s (LJAF) Giving Library, a new innovative online library featuring videos with information about hundreds of non-profits.

The Giving Library is designed to allow philanthropists to easily identify and research non-profits in their areas of interest in a time-effective manner.

“There is not currently a way for philanthropists to quickly but substantively look into a large number of giving opportunities, and the Giving Library addresses that need. Individuals that use the Giving Library will be able to easily locate, study, and engage with organizations that fit their giving criteria,” said LJAF Director of Communications, Meredith Johnson. “What would have taken months or even years of meetings and travel can now be done in a matter of days, from anywhere. It’s the new way to give.”

Click above to view CSF’s Giving Library video.

CSF’s Giving Library video includes an overview of our history and continuing mission to empower low-income parents to provide their children with a private school education and questions and answers with CSF President Darla Romfo.

Please visit the Giving Library to view the CSF video and learn more about the new site. For those who register, the site also offers the chance to communicate anonymously with charities before making a decision to donate.

Stephen Joseph partners with CSF

Just in time for back to school shopping season, Stephen Joseph has partnered with CSF as part of its “Eat-Learn-Play” program.

For every “Sidekick” backpack sold this season, Stephen Joseph will contribute $1 to fund CSF scholarships. The Sidekick backpacks come in eight different designs (including a monkey, ladybug, and giraffe, just to name three) and each one is cute and colorful!

Find out more here and check out the collection on the Stephen Joseph website today.

Erik Cooper takes on Mongol Derby

This August, Erik Cooper will embark on a grueling 10-day horse ride across the Mongolian steppe known as the Mongol Derby, the toughest and longest horse race in the world.

We are very grateful that by riding in the Derby, Erik will also be raising money for Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF) and Mercy Corps!

The 650-mile Derby recreates Genghis Khan’s 13^th century postal system, in which messengers carried mail from one horse station to the next station 25 miles away. Like Khan’s messengers, Erik and his fellow riders will be able to stop at horse stations along their journey to eat, sleep, and switch horses.

Click above to watch a Mongol Derby video

Many would question why anyone would put themselves through this physically demanding 10-day ride – much of which takes place hundreds of miles from hospitals and other modern conveniences in an extreme climate. But for Erik, it’s all about getting out of his comfort zone. As he explained on his Facebook page,

“I feel that once you become comfortable in life, you stop growing as an individual — e.g., learning new skills, having the ability to adapt to a new environment, you lose the excitement for adventure and life in general. I want to put myself in an uncomfortable position and in turn, challenge the skills that I have already acquired. Maybe more importantly for me, I will have to face one of the biggest challenges yet, being a world away from home, with a prominent language barrier, and instead of relying on my car to get me from place to place, I will be relying solely on the horses of the Steppes to carry me 650 miles to my destination….the finish line!”

You can find out more and follow Erik’s expedition by liking him on Facebook and visiting www.mongolderby.com. If you’re inspired to donate to CSF in honor of Erik, please visit our Donate page.

Thank you, Erik, for including CSF in your adventure. We wish you the best of luck!

Erik heads out for a practice hike in preparation for the 10-day Mongol Derby this August.

In defense of tax credit scholarship programs

By CSF President Darla Romfo

Stephanie Saul’s article about Georgia’s tax credit scholarship program in today’s New York Times highlights some troubling aspects of the administration of private school scholarships in that state. We want to point out that tax credit scholarship programs vary in design, and Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF) supports well-designed tax credit programs that are administered correctly and efficiently.

I hope you will take a moment to read this redefinEDonline.org blog post by John Kirtley, Chairman of Step Up for Students, which administers scholarships funded by Florida’s corporate tax credit program. In 1999, John started a CSF partner program in Tampa Bay which led to his involvement in designing and running the Florida program. His post highlights the importance of program design in any tax credit program, as well as the obligation of such programs to serve the neediest children, to track scholarship recipient progress, to allow children to keep their scholarship if they transfer schools, and to operate in a transparent and fiscally responsible way.

While not every program is perfect, the values and merits of tax credit programs should not be dismissed out of hand because of some imperfections in one program. Good tax credit programs (and private scholarship organizations) are providing a great benefit to thousands of low-income children, empowering them with a good education today, and greatly improving their chances for success in college and beyond.