Philadelphia area nonprofits could receive millions in federal grants

A local nonprofit focusing on children's literacy, a charter organization that operates schools in Philadelphia, and other programs with local ties are among 49 nonprofits and groups nationwide that could receive federal funding for their work over the next five years.

The groups are required to raise 20 percent in private matching funds by Sept. 8 to obtain the federal grants.

The Children's Literacy Initiative, a Philadelphia nonprofit that provides literacy training and materials for teachers of prekindergarten through third grade, could receive $21 million, the U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday.

Based in Center City, the Children's Literacy Initiative operates in 33 Philadelphia schools. It also does work in Camden, Newark, N.J., and Chicago.

Other programs with local ties slated to receive $50 million apiece are: Teach for America, which trains top college graduates to fill vacancies in understaffed schools; and the KIPP - Knowledge is Power Program - charter organization. Its charter schools, which focus on preparing students for college, have longer school days and years than public schools.

KIPP Philadelphia, part of the national nonprofit's network of 99 schools, operates two fifth-through-eighth-grade charters in North and West Philadelphia. The Philadelphia School Reform Commission recently gave KIPP permission to begin an elementary program and a high school program in North Philadelphia.

The Baltimore nonprofit Johns Hopkins/Diplomas Now, a dropout-prevention program focusing on middle school students, is a candidate to receive $30 million. The program had a successful tryout at Philadelphia's Feltonville School for the Arts during the 2008-09 academic year.

The U.S. Department of Education has allocated $650 million for the program, which is targeted toward school districts and nonprofits.

"This is the only state in the country in which four of the major winners are focusing a large part of their efforts," U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.) said Thursday.

KIPP officials said they were not sure how much of the grant money would be used to help KIPP expand in Philadelphia.

Steve Mancini, a spokesman for the national KIPP network, said the organization had not yet received the formal grant notification. But he said the nonprofit, which operates in 20 states, would train more education leaders to help it boost enrollment from 26,000 to 55,000 students nationwide in five years.

"We will build a pipeline of school leaders which will allow KIPP to expand over the next five years," Mancini said. "Our hope is that KIPP Philadelphia will be allowed to double."

As a result of the expansion the SRC approved in June, KIPP Philadelphia will have an enrollment of 510 students in the fall.

KIPP's grant application also called for the network to host three national educational symposiums to share the network's successful practices.

The Children's Literacy Initiative runs seminars and provides training for teachers to help them strengthen students' reading skills.

"We have to support the teachers. If not, every other change is beside the point," said Linda Katz, executive director and cofounder of Children's Literacy.

The 49 candidates were selected from among 1,700 school districts, nonprofit education organizations, and institutions of higher education that applied.