Fattah Announces $500,000 Grant for Philadelphia CORE Scholarships, Targeting Youth in Foster Care

PHILADELPHIA, April 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), creator of the College Opportunity Resources for Education (CORE) Scholarship program for Philadelphia high school graduates, announced today a $500,000 federal matching grant to CORE to widen the doors of opportunity for the city's most vulnerable young people, especially those in the foster care system.

"This important grant will allow the CORE Scholarship program to recruit and assist an acutely under-served group of Philadelphia students, including those who have been in foster care and rarely even dream of the opportunity to pursue higher education," Fattah said. "These young people who have literally been lost in the system can now be identified and aided in attaining a college education that will dramatically improve their life chances."

Since 2004, the CORE Scholarship program has been providing "promise scholarships" for every graduate of a Philadelphia public, charter, private or parochial high school to ensure these students can continue their education at a participating Pennsylvania institution of higher learning. CORE has distributed over $28.5 million to more than 18,000 Philadelphia students who entered college in the fall following graduation.

The matching grant, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Community Services, will allow CORE Scholarships to target low-income and disabled students and families and recent high school graduates up to age 21 in addition to those in foster care.  The CORE Philly Endowment Trust, the University of Pennsylvania, and other participating colleges will provide matching funds up to an additional $500,000 and PNC Bank will offer account services to the program.

While children in foster care have been eligible for CORE Scholarships, the national data on their college attainment is stark. Seventy percent of teens who emancipate from foster care report that they want to attend college, but less than 50 percent graduate from high school and fewer than 10 percent of those graduates enroll in college. Of those, less than 1 percent graduate from college.

Fattah created the program in 2003 in partnership with the City of Philadelphia and the School District. The mission of CORE Scholarships is to provide scholarship aid for every Philadelphia student upon high school graduation to provide both means and incentive to continue on the educational path.

"A college education and a college degree is the ticket to America's future," Fattah said. "Every young person must have this opportunity, regardless of income or family situation, and CORE Scholarships have always provided the incentive to keep striving.

"College attainment is literally worth millions in future earnings compared to those with no college. It is also an act of patriotism - helping America win the future with a better educated work force to compete in the global economy," Fattah said.

The CORE Scholarship Program, under direction of Donyale Y. H. Reavis, will work with the City of Philadelphia's Office of Higher Education and other city agencies to identify students who have been in foster care or in other targeted groups and who can be assisted on the new rung up the ladder of education.

Executive Director Reavis said, "We welcome these additional resources to reach young people who are eager to advance their education beyond high school and are urgently in need of the kind of assistance that CORE Scholarships can provide. The sobering reality of the cost of attendance for college students compels CORE to relentlessly pursue more creative strategies with the likelihood for engendering lifelong habits of success like saving and financial literacy."

SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah