Sister Rose Martin Gr'00: Partnering for Hope

The neighborhood is one of Philadelphia's most disadvantaged. The statistics paint a grim picture: 50 percent of residents live below the poverty line, and average family income is below $18,000. Among the adults, 62 percent never graduated from high school. Twenty-seven percent didn't even make it past the ninth grade.

Hope Partnership for Education wants to improve the odds for their children. Founded in 2002, the venture — which includes a middle school, ongoing support for graduates, and adult education — aims to break the cycle of poverty through education.

Says Sister Rose Martin Gr'00, who serves as Hope Partnership's executive director, "This is what all children in the city need. What we're offering is what every Philadelphia public school can't afford to offer — small classrooms in extended-day and extended-year schools."

While tuition is low, parents are asked to pay what they can afford. But, as Sister Rose explains, "that can be as little as ten dollars a month. No one pays more than fifty."

Sister Rose was just finishing her doctoral degree in GSE's Education, Culture and Society program when she got involved with the project. "I'd been a principal in Catholic Schools for 14 years — in Miami and West Philadelphia — and went to graduate school because I felt the need to think more and analyze more and learn more," she explains.

"I loved graduate school, but I still had a passion for helping children who don't have the educational opportunities that every child should have. This project gave me the opportunity to act on that and to actualize all that I had been thinking about and learning at GSE."

Her first assignment was to conduct a feasibility study — a process that not only helped clarify the school's mission but even helped name it. As Sister Rose recalls, "When I was doing focus groups for the study, I asked people, 'This isn't Fishtown, and it's not Kensington. What is this neighborhood called?' And one of the woman said, 'We don't have a name. Just call us the Community of Lost Hope.'"

In that moment, Hope Partnership for Education found its name.

The Best Education Possible
Hope Partnership for Education is a joint effort of two religious communities, the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and the Sisters of Mercy. The school they founded, however, is independent, not religious, in focus. As Sister Rose explains, "We're not interested in proselytizing. We wanted to offer the best education possible to students who need it most, and incorporating as a non-profit, private school gives us additional funding opportunities."

Hope Partnership is part of the NativityMiguel Network of Schools, a nationwide network that provides member schools with a model for middle-school education in impoverished communities. Its track record is impressive: an 89 percent high school graduation rate (compared to 50 percent of African American, 53 percent of Latino, and 68 percent of all students); a 62 percent college enrollment rate (nearly twice the national average of 33 percent); and a list of colleges acceptances that includes Boston College, Brown, Colgate, Georgetown, Morehouse, Temple, and Villanova.

Like other schools in the NativityMiguel network, Hope Partnership offers small classes, an extended school day, and an extended school year. Class size is limited to 15, and the school day, which begins at 7:30 in the morning, doesn't end until five. The school year runs from September through mid-June with summer session running through July.

Much of its character, though, came from the neighbors themselves. "A lot of our direction was taken from the focus groups," Sister Rose explains. "We intended to start a girls' school, but when we met with people in the neighborhood, they said, 'How can you do this for our daughters and not our sons?'"

And because they spoke about their own need for more education, Sister Rose and her colleagues decided on the concept of an educational center. "We're still in our infancy," she says, "but we offer adult education as well. We have monthly family nights when we offer a variety of programs. Authors come to speak — some people from Temple who are studying diabetes and nutrition came and people are still talking about Saburah Abdul-Kabir, who worked with Howard Stevenson [a GSE faculty member] on his anger-management program for African-American teens.

"We offer GED and basic education classes," she continues. "And we have a part-time social worker who helps connect families with resources."

This focus on families is critical, explains Sister Rose. All too many of the neighborhood's adults have been short-changed by the educational system — the functional literacy rate hovers at 50 percent — and they often don't know how to help their children take the next steps in school. So among the offerings for adults are monthly sessions that focus on parenting skills like helping children with homework and coping with adolescents.

Making an Impact
Although still a relatively young venture — its first eighth grade class graduated just last year — the school's intense involvement with students and families has already had an impact on students.

"One little boy who came to us had been in five foster homes and five schools. When he came to us, he needed a full-time therapeutic support person," says Sister Rose. "This summer he's at St. Joe's Prep pre-eighth-grade prep program. [St. Joseph's Preparatory School is a well-known Catholic prep school in Philadelphia.] We can't take all the credit — he's now in a stable foster home — but I like to think that we did play some role in his success.

"He had no self-confidence," she continues. "I was recently invited to speak to a gathering in a Rittenhouse Square apartment, and this child accompanied me. He interacted with the group in a way that I couldn't possibly imagine myself doing at that age."

Another student whose life has turned around since arriving at Hope Partnership is attending Philadelphia's magnet school for the arts. Says Sister Rose, "When she started with us, and I don't think she even knew she had artistic talent. But then she got to work with one of our volunteers who is an art teacher.

"We look for students who would benefit from more individual attention," she continues. Most students enter Hope Partnership several grade levels behind, and a strong curricular program is designed to prepare them for acceptance into the high schools that best match their potential. The staff of four full-time teachers is augmented by a complement of volunteers.

Being part of a religious community gives Hope Partnership a distinct advantage in the volunteer department. "We have a wide net to cast," says Sister Rose. "One volunteer — a man who teaches math twice a week — is a retired engineer who worked on the first lunar module. The students love him and asked him to speak at their graduation this year. He's fabulous!"

Beyond academics, the school offers one-to-one tutoring, community service projects, and enrichment activities. Extra-curricular activities include a chess club, a debate club, a range of creative and performing arts, and sports. "Other non-profits have gotten involved with us as well," says Sister Rose. "For example, Urban Blazers — a group that provides outdoor experiences to underserved kids in Philadelphia — has taken both the classes skiing. And one of our donors is providing funding for our students to take classes at Settlement Music School in Germantown."

Continuing Support
With its aim of getting its students into the high school that's most appropriate for them, Hope Partnership continues to support its graduates as they make the transition into the higher grades. The Class of 2008 was the school's first graduating class so 2008-09 was the inaugural year for the high school support program.

The scope of the High School Support Program is broad, providing help as students choose the high school that's right for them and then navigate the new academic and social challenges. The program is designed to continue throughout the students' high school career, with Hope Partnership staff helping with SATs and college applications or with the move into the workforce.

"We have a monthly pizza party/study night," says Sister Rose, "and they come back for that. We have tutoring available after school as well. Last summer, we had two students who had to go to summer school," she continues, "and we stayed in touch with them to make sure they were attending."

It's that kind of day-to-day, intensive involvement in the lives of students and their families that distinguishes Hope Partnership's philosophy.

For more about Hope Partnership, click here.