Did you know that in the last ten years, over 600 Oregon children have received a “hand up” in their education through a privately funded scholarship program called the Children’s Scholarship Fund-Portland [1]? The program’s mission is to maximize educational opportunity for students from Oregon families whose income is low to moderate.
The Children’s Scholarship Fund-Portland has a ten-year history of demonstrating the value of small scholarships in providing a “hand up” to grade school kids from lower-income families. CSF-Portland is entirely privately funded by local donors, whose gifts are matched by a challenge grant from the national Children’s Scholarship Fund [2].
Families of greater financial means can afford to send their children to the schools they think are best for their kids as unique individuals, but lower-income families often cannot afford to make the same choices”•choices that have great consequences for a child’s life. The Children’s Scholarship Fund-Portland believes that when parents have real choices in their children’s education, children have better chances at success in school.
Children’s Scholarship Fund scholarships are designed to be a “hand up,” not a “handout.” On average, parents pay over half of their children’s tuition themselves. An average scholarship of only $1,500 per year helps them realize their goals.
The demand for choice in education is growing, increasingly so among lower-income parents. Parents want the best for their children, and private programs like the Children’s Scholarship Fund-Portland are proud to help them achieve it.
Kathryn Hickok [3] is Publications Director, Development Coordinator, and Director of the Children’s Scholarship Fund-Portland [1] at Cascade Policy Institute [4], Oregon’s free market public policy research center.