Supporting Education

The Rotary Club of Philadelphia supports education through grants awarded to local charitable organizations and through direct service projects.

Our Foundation awards more than $30,000 annually. Recent grants have been awarded to provide funding for:

• WHYY, Inc. “Media Labs Pathways to Careers” program, to provide equipment packages for students enrolled in the program.

• LaSalle Academy’s 5th grade students, providing supplies in support of those children who are experiencing homelessness.

• Philadelphia Outward Bound School, in support of their experiential education programs for underserved youth.

• UnEarthed Penn’s program that develops, produces, and distributes free printed educational materials to public elementary schools in Philadelphia.

• Next Steps Programs, Inc., which provides training for young adults with disabilities to come together, learn new skills, build community, and prepare for life after high school.

• Federation Early Learning Services, to support their creative educational activities including science, technology, engineering, math and art. 

• John B. Kelly Elementary School, to purchase books for their library and a “seating” rug for their story reading area.

• Garces Foundation, to support the English for the Restaurant and Everyday educational program, which helps break the cycle of poverty.

• Liguori Academy for a grant awarded to a student from this private, independent high school located in the Kensington community of Philadelphia, which offers individualized learning to students from underserved communities.
  Funding was also provided for starting a food pantry with student volunteers at the school, which lies within the congressional district having one of the highest poverty rates in the country. Funding was also given to provide books for new library.

• Rotary Youth Leadership Award weekend at the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for four high school students, two each from West Catholic and Liguori Academy. Along with over 100 other Philadelphia area students, they developed leadership, communication, problem-solving, and conflict management skills.
  The Rotary Club of Philadelphia has sponsored new Interact Clubs at Liguori Academy and West Catholic High School. Interact clubs bring together young people ages 12-18 to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of Service Above Self. Learn more about our youth clubs.

• Brighter Horizon Foundation’s college preparation program that opens opportunities to economically disadvantaged high school students through academic achievement, mentoring, college preparation, and financial aid, with the goal of ending a cycle of poverty.

• Conquerors Community Development Corporation, located in West Philadelphia, in support of their distribution program which provides book bags and school supplies for students in families living in poverty. 

• Reading Allowed’s certified after-school literacy program for struggling readers in North Philadelphia.  

• S. Weir Mitchell Elementary School in Southwest Philadelphia, to set up an emergency food bank.

• Tree House Books, a Giving Library and Literacy Center located in North Philadelphia, whose mission is to grow and sustain a community of readers, writers, and thinkers.

• Musicopia, a non-profit that provides over 2,000 music programs to numerous schools in Philadelphia, giving more than 15,000 students the opportunity to learn about live music. The Rotary Foundation of Philadelphia’s outreach efforts helped to sustain the expansion of the string orchestra.

• Play On Philly!, to support their teaching artists in their mission to provide high-quality music training to Philadelphia’s underserved community.

• Drum Corps Academy at Olney Charter High School, to purchase instruments for their Drum Corps program activities.

• Beat the Streets Philadelphia, a nonprofit that implements after-school wrestling and mentoring programs for boys and girls as a vehicle in their mission to positively alter life’s trajectory for Philadelphia’s underserved youth. 

• Waring Public School, to purchase books for take-home reading aligned with the 100 Book Challenge®, which incorporates several researched-based best practices in literacy and learning to create a highly effective reading program.

• LaSalle Academy Educational Grant, for a graduating eighth grader from this school for future educational expenses. LaSalle Academy, in Kensington community of Philadelphia, serves a population of students whose families have an annual income under $18,500. The school has a student Early Act Club affiliated with the Rotary Club of Philadelphia.

• West Catholic Prep Grant, for a graduating senior to help offset university expenses. West Catholic has a student Interact (service) club affiliated with the Rotary Club of Philadelphia. 

• Philadelphia READS, to support the outreach of this highly-effective non-profit in providing quality literacy programs for Philadelphia children. Their “Little READS Libraries” for daycare and pre-k classrooms in Philadelphia designed to spark a love of reading in students at an early age and encourage parents to take an active role in their child’s education.

• Rotary Youth Exchange, for a stipend to a student from the Czech Republic who is attending Cheltenham High School. The program helps students ages 15‒19 learn a new language, discover a new culture, and become global citizens.

• Summer Search Philadelphia, a program to motivate and encourage inner city youth to pursue higher education following high school.

Our club is involved with many hands-on community service projects directed at improving education. For example, our members…

…joined two other clubs to participate in Philadelphia Outward Bound School’s Building Adventure “peer to peer” fundraising event, rappelling down a Center City Philadelphia skyscraper, and raising $22,881 for their youth programs.

…we conducted six virtual Career Speaker Series presentations to students from our partner schools with Interact Clubs. Presenters discussed their personal background, professional training and career experiences, followed by questions and answers. Members spoke to high school students at Liguori Academy located in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia.

…donated and directly distributed more than 20,000 thesauruses, dictionaries, atlases and library books over the past eight years to School District of Philadelphia and Archdiocese of Philadelphia students at more than 25 underserved schools.

…joined parents of students at Laura Wheeler Waring Elementary School to catalog library books for the newly re-established library at this school. 

…spent a Day of Service reading books to K-2 students at Bache-Martin Elementary School, a pre K–8 school located in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia. This Day of Service is part of the Rotary Club's $5,000 donation to Friends of Bache-Martin, enhancing children's literacy and love of reading.

…helped sort pallets of books and pack cartons for the Salvation Army learning centers.

…held a ‘Books for Babies’ drive, collecting approximately 300 books for Philadelphia READS to use in the creation of mini-libraries at day care centers for underserved city children.

…coached students enrolled in the Reading Allowed high-quality tutoring program, assisting students with school homework and assignments.

Banner image © Rotary International/Alyce Henson