Faith in our Future Foundation: Announces significant support for Seton Catholic Schools

CONTACT:
John Herbers
(414)298-8176

Milwaukee, February 17, 2015 – The Faith In Our Future Trust, a charitable foundation supporting Catholic education and faith formation in southeastern Wisconsin, announced today an unrestricted $1 million grant to Seton Catholic Schools, the new educational model to strengthen Milwaukee’s Catholic schools and the Milwaukee community. In addition, the Trust announced a $1 million challenge grant. Both grants will come from the Trust’s Catholic Schools Centers of Excellence Fund.

“When the Faith in Our Future Trust was created nine years ago, we envisioned just this kind of opportunity to invest in Catholic education,” said Mary Ellen Stanek, Trustee. “We are proud to be among the first to support Seton Catholic Schools with our largest gift to date. We believe their work will be unique in the nation and will represent a different model for improving educational outcomes for children in our community.”

Seton Catholic Schools was created in 2015 by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Advised by a task force of community leaders, Seton is a start-up collaborative model that will include 26 elementary Catholic schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. This network of schools is a new model that will mobilize needed resources to support students, create leaders, and strengthen faith communities. The focus will be on three areas, educational improvements, improved religious education and improved governance.

“We are proud of the Faith In Our Future Trust’s support of our efforts to significantly improve academic progress in Milwaukee,” said Don Drees, President of Seton Catholic Schools. “Our model for success hinges upon increasing effectiveness with operational efficiencies that come from shared administrative services, specialty academics, and professional development activities – efficiencies that small parochial schools are unable to achieve. As our model will demonstrate, our greatest strength will be our collaborative culture. Seton Catholic Schools will truly be greater than the sum of the individual schools.”

Seton recently named Bill Hughes Academic Director. Hughes is the former Greendale Superintendent, is Director of the School and Instructional Leadership Program at Alverno College, and is part of the nonprofit education reform group Schools That Can Milwaukee.

The Faith in our Future Trust is a separate 501(c)3 charitable trust created in 2007 to support catholic education and faith formation in Southeastern Wisconsin. The Catholic Schools Centers of Excellence Fund is one of the funds created under the Faith In Our Future Trust to support Catholic Education in Southeastern Wisconsin. More information is available at www.faithinourfuture.org.