Catholic schools get boost with $1.8M donation
Sites on the South and West sides hit hard by pandemic
An emergency donation of $1.8 million to the Archdiocese of Chicago earlier this month from the nonprofit Big Shoulders Fund is helping to keep the doors open at West and South side Catholic schools with budgets hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said Friday.
In addition, a separate group of donors has raised nearly $1.4 million to fund $250 teacher bonuses to reward and retain Catholic school educators who have been teaching students in person since the fall.
The injection of about $3.2 million in private funding arrives at a critical time for the archdiocese, which last week announced the closure of four of its schools, and the consolidations of dozens of parishes in the city and suburbs in part because of rising debt and declining enrollment.
Officials at the Big Shoulders Fund, a nonprofit that supports 72 of the highestneed Catholic schools in Chicago, said the $1.8 million emergency donation will help a “significant number” of schools at risk of closing because of financial hardships worsened during the pandemic. The recent donation is earmarked for 58 schools, according to archdiocese officials.
“At the end of the day, these schools are community-based organizations in underserved neighborhoods,” said Big Shoulders President and CEO Josh Hale.
“Our kids and our teachers have done a heroic job throughout the pandemic, and I think when we look back at this part of our history, we’ll be able to say they succeeded enormously,” Hale added.
In addition to educating students, the 72 schools in the Big Shoulders network also are hubs for social services, including providing food and rent support for struggling families.
Shauntae Davis, principal of St. Margaret of Scotland School, 9833 S. Throop St. in the Longwood Manor neighborhood on the South Side, said she received an instant message from a former student Friday morning that underscored the importance of the school’s mission.
“I was still a teacher when she was a student here, and she thanked me for being that positive person in her life … she’s now a college student at DePaul,” said Davis, who is also a St. Margaret alumnus.
As the 197 students and 25 teachers at the prekindergarten through eighth grade school celebrate National Catholic Schools Week starting Sunday, Davis said this year’s festivities are arriving after nearly 11 months of dealing with pandemic-related obstacles.
“What’s most rewarding to me is that while we were forced to shut down and switch to virtual learning last March, we’ve been able to serve our children in person since the start of the school year,” Davis said. “It’s been challenging, but we were able to reopen our school, and reopen safely, which is the biggest thing.”
Jim Rigg, superintendent of Catholic Schools for the archdiocese, said the archdiocese and Big Shoulders, founded during Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s tenure, have enjoyed, “a very long and extremely beneficial relationship.”
“Big Shoulders has been an essential partner, especially for our schools in high poverty communities, and we’re always working very closely with them, and their help has been absolutely essential,” Rigg said.
The schools receiving the emergency funds all have seen steep declines in revenue because of enrolling students whose families have been hit hardest by the pandemic, Rigg said.
“These students have
parents who have lost their jobs, or been furloughed, or a family member is sick and unable to work,” Rigg said. “All of this has created financial hardships for families and the Catholic schools, and Big Shoulders was kind enough to step in.”
While Rigg said there was a possibility that some of the schools funded by Big Shoulders could have been considered for closure because of budget deficits, officials at the archdiocese “never got to that point.”
“This donation helped prevent having to have that conversation,” Rigg said.
Despite the recent consolidations of dozens of parishes, Rigg said he remains optimistic that the latest reconfiguration of parishes under the Renew My Church initiative could channel new revenue streams to Catholic schools through support agreements after the parish mergers.
While enrollment at archdiocese schools has dipped slightly during the pandemic, Rigg said some schools have seen an uptick in new students from families
seeking in-person instruction.
“It’s always painful to close schools, but it’s an initial step that will bring renewal and growth in the future,” Rigg said.
Now, with the arrival of Catholic Schools Week, Rigg said the nearly $1.4 million that was raised by private donors in just two weeks has created a “gratitude fund” to reward the archdiocese’s 5,000 school employees at 162 schools.
The fund will be distributed equitably, Rigg said, with all full-time workers receiving $250 and parttimers receiving $100.
“Because of COVID, we can’t allow the traditional open houses and large celebrations we typically have each year during Catholic Schools Week, which is a time when we do a lot of our recruiting,” Rigg said. “Next week we’re hoping to focus on gratitude to our teachers, students and parents, and all those who support Catholic education.”
“Our kids and our teachers have done a heroic job throughout the pandemic, and I think when we look back at this part of our history, we’ll be able to say they succeeded enormously.”
— Josh Hale, Big Shoulders President and CEO