$2.5 Million Endows Partnership Between Penn and KIPP Schools |
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October 9, 2012,
Volume 59, No. 07 |
A ceremony was held on October 2 cementing the new partnership between the KIPP Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania to increase college-completion rates for underserved students nationwide through the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP). This is KIPP’s first college partnership with an Ivy League university and its tenth partnership with an institution of higher learning since the fall of 2011.
A $2.5 million gift from Martha and Bruce Karsh provides Penn with new resources to actively recruit KIPP students, underwrite their financial aid and offer them targeted support once they get to campus. “We support KIPP’s initiative to form a partnership with Penn, and so we decided to support it with a scholarship,” Mrs. Karsh said. “Penn’s focus is aligned with a lot of things we care about; Amy Gutmann has focused on diversity and underserved students for a long time. This seemed a perfect direction to go. ”
The Karshes, attorneys in Los Angeles, formed the Karsh Family Foundation, a charitable foundation, in 1998 and made large gifts to a number of colleges and universities, including Penn where two of their children are alumni. They later began to focus on public K-12 education where Mrs. Karsh said they saw so much dysfunction. Through friends, she learned of the KIPP Academy of Opportunity in Los Angeles and soon joined its national board.
Beginning in the 2013-2014 academic year, Penn projects enrolling 12-15 KIPP students each year who meet admissions requirements. This community of KIPP students will support each other on their journey through college. Penn’s no-loan financial-aid policy for all eligible undergraduates enables the University to enroll the most talented students, regardless of socioeconomic status.
Penn is already home to a handful of KIPP students, including Chevon Boone, a senior in the College, from a tiny town in northeastern North Carolina, who was awarded a full Leonore Annenberg Scholarship that supported her four years at Penn. There are 11 KIPP graduates now at Penn.
“Making a Penn education available to talented, hard-working students from every walk of life is the cornerstone of our efforts to increase educational access,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said. “A partnership between Penn and KIPP is a natural fit, and we could not be more supportive of KIPP’s mission to prepare and help enable students in underserved communities to reach their highest potential.”
Partnering with KIPP, said Mr. Furda, will help the University “learn about what it takes to help support students who have the talent and motivation but are coming from backgrounds that are perhaps disadvantaged in certain ways. We welcome these bright, goal-oriented students to Penn.”
KIPP’s connection to the University of Pennsylvania is especially resonant, as KIPP co-founder Mike Feinberg is an alumnus of the Penn Class of 1991. Mr. Feinberg founded KIPP with Dave Levin in Houston in 1994; since then, KIPP has grown into a national network of 109 college-preparatory public charter schools, serving 33,000 students in 20 states and the DC. More than 85 % of KIPP’s students are from low-income families and more than 95 percent are students of color. According to a 2010 study by Mathematica Policy Research, KIPP middle schools are achieving academic gains in math and reading that are statistically significant and substantial.
“As a Penn alum, I am truly proud to partner with my alma mater to help get our KIPP students to and through college,” Mr. Feinberg said. |