A pair of grants totaling $55,000 will help Cincinnati’s DePaul Cristo Rey High School provide extra financial support to its students and recent graduates.
The Catholic, college-preparatory high school received $35,000 from the Charles H. Dater Foundation, which offers grants to Greater Cincinnati nonprofits that serve young people.
These funds are earmarked to support DePaul Cristo Rey’s Graduate Success Program. It gives micro-grants to the school’s alumni to help them overcome financial barriers to college completion – lab fees, transportation issues, the cost of room and board or tuition gaps not covered by financial aid.
DePaul Cristo Rey stressed its the only Greater Cincinnati high school with an organized alumni support program of this kind.
Huntington National Bank also made a $20,000 grant to support tuition assistance for current students. DePaul Cristo Rey’s mission is to provide an exceptional education and opportunities to college-minded students whose families lack the financial means to support their education.
Every DePaul Cristo Rey student receives tuition assistance and every senior, every year, is accepted to a college or university. These dollars will help continue that trend, said Sparkle Worley, the high school’s vice president of advancement.
“At DePaul Cristo Rey High School our mission is to support our students to and through college. These grants will help us fulfill this mission with much-needed support for both our current students and our graduates pursuing college degrees, she said. “We are very grateful to these organizations for showing their belief in our work through their financial support.”
Founded in 2011, DePaul Cristo Rey is a ninth-through-12th-grade high school on Central Parkway sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. It’s one of the 39 United States schools that make up the Cristo Rey Network.
The network is known for a unique work-study program, where students attend classes four days a week and work one day at a business or organization. The on-job element provides skills training and networking opportunities, while also allowing the student to fund part of their own education.
The school network serves nearly 13,000 young people every year.