Solving the education crisis will require partnerships, according to Ina Lipman

“Around the Corner” is a PhillyCAM show that offers local social impact leaders the opportunity to share what impact their work is having on the Philadelphia area. 

It’s no secret that one of Philadelphia’s most wicked problems is its education system.

Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia attempts to alleviate educational inequity by providing financial access for students to attend “safe, quality” schools, said Ina Lipman, the fund’s director, in her Around the Corner interview. The fund offers four-year scholarships to low-income families so they can have the choice to send their children to tuition-based K-8 schools.

“Unfortunately, we have a crisis in this country, not only a high school dropout crisis in urban settings,” Lipman said. “But those that graduate — at dismal rates, which hover around 60 percent under the best cases in Philadelphia — these kids are graduating high school much below grade level, so they’re not able to enter the work force after high school.”

Watch Lipman tell Generocity Community Manager Mo Manklang about how the nonprofit has grown over its 17-year lifespan, why partnering with likeminded organizations is so important and who needs to be involved to attack inequity in education.

PhillyCAM is Comcast channel 66/966HD/967 and Verizon FIOSchannel 29/30 in Philadelphia.