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Local Catholic, private schools get $17M for scholarships

Supporters of Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Schools gathered at the Union League Wednesday night to present $16.9 million in scholarship funds for students to attend private and Archdiocesan schools.

Supporters of Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Schools (BLOCS) gathered at the Union League Wednesday night to present $16.9 million in scholarship funds for students to attend private and Archdiocesan schools.

More than half the money – $10.1 million – was gifted to BLOCS through the state Educational Improvement and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit programs, which allow corporate donors to credit 75 to 90 percent of the contribution amount to their state tax bills.

One of the state's largest nonprofit scholarship organizations, BLOCS provided tuition assistance to more than 6,000 students last year. About 45 percent of the funds went to households earning $25,000 or less annually; 75 percent to families earning $75,000 or less, according to executive director Bill O'Brien.

"Our mission is pretty simple, really: to give any child who wants an opportunity to go to private and primarily Catholic schools, because that's who we support," O'Brien said in an interview earlier this month. "We want to give them the opportunity to go to a school of their choice without regard to religion, race or the ability to afford it."

The average BLOCS scholarship pays for about half a student's tuition, with families and schools working together to make up the rest, he said. Despite the nonprofit's efforts, needs persist – BLOCS had to turn down about 10,000 qualifying applications last year.

Four scholarship recipients were honored at the fundraising gala as BLOCS students of distinction. On stage, they thanked donors while standing against a backdrop flashing with images of Philadelphia's most distressed neighborhoods.

"St. Hubert is my path to college," said Blair Turnipseed, 16, a junior at the all-girls high school in Holmesburg.

Turnipseed previously bounced around six schools in as many years and for a time lived with her family in a motel room, making college feel like a distant and unlikely possibility, she said.

"I thank BLOCS and all those involved in the decision to share their limited resources with me," she said. "I know there are many deserving students in the Archdiocese, yet they chose me."

Democratic mayoral candidate state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams also took to the stage Wednesday to thank the donors, telling them he wouldn't be present if it weren't for a scholarship enabling him to attend Quaker boarding school Westtown as a teenager. He prefaced his remarks with a pointed jab at those who have labeled him the "school-choice" or "charter school" candidate.

"II read about myself every day on issues that apparently I'm not supposed to be associated with," he said to loud applause. "So rather than run from it, I embrace it."