Consortium of Catholic Academies’ 25 years of improving educational opportunities for poor children marked with reception

Shared affinity for Catholic education among some of Washington’s most prominent politicians was one of the little-heralded factors in sustaining the Consortium of Catholic Academies for much of its first 25 years. The consortium includes four schools serving lower income students in urban areas of Washington, D.C. – St. Anthony Catholic School, Sacred Heart School, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Academy, and St. Thomas More Catholic Academy – providing academic, social and financial support to more than 800 students each year.

At a Sept. 8 reception marking that anniversary for key supporters and administrators of the four Consortium of Catholic Academies schools, former House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, was introduced with a description of that bipartisan history. CCA board member Vince Burke, whose connections to the consortium go back to the beginning, explained that Boehner worked with the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy to help financially support the Consortium with fundraising events. Their Washington political starpower helped draw in crucial funders who have kept the schools model working, raising millions of dollars.

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