| Our Mission & Goals |
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The Philadelphia Children’s Foundation is a non-profit educational-support organization whose mission is to foster positive career and life-changing decisions in children of all ages.
Through our programs and initiatives we connect Philadelphia students and their families to the vast resources available locally and on the web. PCF utilizes these local and internet resources to encourage students to participate in positive, goal-oriented activities to help develop their self-esteem.
We strive to inspire our youth to discover their interests, pursue their passions, and develop the skills they need to lead more fulfilling lives and better serve their families and communities. Through our career-centered approach we help spark a curiosity to explore a world of opportunities. Our goals are to increase high school graduation rates, boost post-secondary education enrollment, and expand career potential, particularly for disadvantaged children in our city. |
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| The Facts: |
| Over 50% of ninth graders in the Philadelphia public schools between 2000-2005 did not graduate in four years (40% of ninth graders had not received a diploma after six years).1 |
| In any one year, about 8,000 students officially dropped out and an additional 5,000 spent so little time in school that researchers called them “near dropouts.”2 |
| One third of all drop-outs were in grade nine or below.3 |
| Only 78.5% of Philadelphia's 25+ year old population graduated high school.4 |
| The Philadelphia SD ranks only 65th in overall graduation rates among the 100 largest school districts in the country.5 |
| Over 90,000 students and families in the Philadelphia School District don't have a computer at home.6 |
| Over 100,000 students in the Philadelphia area are waiting for a mentor.7 |
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Our Website:
Our website is a central clearinghouse for educational and social resources for students and families. We have highlighted the many and varied Philadelphia local sites, and also included many great web-based resources. We have organized this site to make it easy for you to find the information most helpful to your needs. We provide:
- Age-specific pages for students from kindergarten to college
- Separate home pages for parents, teachers, mentors and service professionals
- Categories and descriptions of local organizations to help families find the services they need
- And much more... click here to see!
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1Ruth Neild and Robert Balfanz, “Unfulfilled Promise: The Dimensions and Characteristics of Philadelphia’s Dropout Crisis, 2000-2005.” (October 2006)
2Neild and Balfanz
3Neild and Balfanz,
4US Census Bureau, http://factfinder.census.gov
5The Manhatten Institute for Policy Research, Civic Report 48, http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_48.htm
6United Way of South East Pennsylvania, www.mentoring.org/sepa/news/campaign_for_mentors.php.
7Philadelphia Inquirer, (June 6, 2006)
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