AS CEO of Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Schools, Dave Rowan can point to a number of examples of local schools earning support from BLOCS.
Rowan cites the new Connelly Arts and Design Center at St. Hubert, three years of rising freshmen enrollment under school president Joe Sanginiti at Archbishop Ryan and the money being raised by school president Brian King and his board for the Career Pathways Academy under construction at Father Judge.
BLOCS, according to Rowan, helps put students on a life path, whether they go to St. Hubert, Ryan, Judge, other archdiocesan schools, Independence Mission Schools or private schools.
“We do that every single day,” he said. “I love what our mission is.”
BLOCS, in existence since 1980, is the largest scholarship organization in Pennsylvania, providing more than 17,000 need-based scholarships per year to students from some of the lowest-performing districts to attend tuition-based schools, from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade.
Scholarships are funded through the state Educational Improvement Tax Credit and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit.
Donors receive up to 90% credits on their Pennsylvania taxes when redirecting their personal or corporate tax liability as scholarship donations through the nonprofit BLOCS.
The scholarship money is sent to schools, which disperse it to families. The average BLOCS recipient has an annual family income of less than $55,000. Recipients can be of any religion.
“The money goes to kids who have a financial need,” Rowan said.
Rowan, whose wife Celeste is a Ryan graduate, has been CEO of BLOCS for more than four years.
BLOCS closed the 2023 fiscal year having collected more than $110 million in EITC contributions, representing a $41 million, or 59% increase, from the prior year.
A lot of the donors, Rowan said, are folks who have pride in the schools they or their children attended.
“Our donors are unbelievable,” said Rowan, who credited the BLOCS staff for developing relationships with donors that pay off for needy students.
Rowan cheered last month’s passage of the state school code bill for including a $150 million increase for the EITC and OSTC programs.
“It’s an investment in our Philadelphia community and statewide,” he said.
Rowan is excited about a new dual enrollment program, which launched Jan. 1, that allows archdiocesan high school students receiving BLOCS tuition support to take free classes at Holy Family University for college credit. He thanks Anne Prisco, Holy Family president, for her support of the program.
“It gives kids a chance to get a head start,” said Rowan, adding that Holy Family will also help parents seek grants and learn how to finance college.
National School Choice Week will be celebrated from Jan. 21-27, and Rowan offers numerous reasons why donors should consider BLOCS.
For starters, he said Catholic schools provide a quality, values-based education with discipline, direction, safe classrooms and dedicated teachers who don’t make as much money as public school counterparts.
In addition, he points to the high graduation rate and standardized test scores. Catholic schools, he said, prepare students for college or the workforce upon graduation.
A quality education, he said, can help lead to better jobs, alleviate intergenerational poverty and reduce crime and incarceration rates, a belief embraced by Mayor Cherelle Parker.
“It’s not rocket science,” Rowan said. “Parents and guardians should have the opportunity to give their kids a values-based, good education.” ••
Parents and donors can contact schools about financial aid and the necessary applications. For more information, visit blocs.org.
