Jennifer Alleva, CPA, Partner at Your Part-Time Controller, LLC, has been named to the Board of Directors of Catholic Partnership Schools, a nonprofit organization utilizing an innovative model to maintain and sustain five Catholic elementary schools in Camden, N.J. Alleva serves on the Finance Committee, where she is using her accounting expertise to address financial stability and centralized fiscal management functions of the organization.
With declining school enrollments, tuition shortfalls and dioceses and parishes no longer able to provide adequate funding, Catholic schools are seeking new models. These issues are exacerbated in economically depressed cities such as Camden, where 93% of families are below poverty levels. Catholic Partnership Schools is at the forefront of a national movement to reform Catholic education and to keep these schools open and thriving.
Over 90% of Partnership students graduate from high school, compared with less than 25% of students at the two Camden city schools that are the public high school options for Camden youth. CPS students consistently outperform Camden City district schools and most charters by a wide margin and earn striking academic achievements at a fraction of the cost of public education.
More than 1,000 boys and girls attend Holy Name, Sacred Heart, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Cecilia, and St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral Schools. The Catholic Partnership Schools provide a student-centered academic program defined by faith-based values, rooted in respect and compelled by justice. The schools are committed to sustaining safe and nurturing educational facilities that inspire and prepare students for rigorous college-preparatory secondary education.
The Partnership believes that neighborhood schools are anchors of security for children, families and communities, and that education is a transformative power that can give children hope and break the cycle of poverty. Curriculum and instruction are purposefully designed and individualized to assure that each child achieves.
“Being a 16-year graduate of Catholic education myself, and sending my children to Catholic schools, this is something that is very meaningful to me. Catholic schools develop their own culture and an environment that’s really wonderful for nurturing children to be the best person that they can be,” says Alleva.
“Many children who go to Catholic schools aren’t even Catholic, but Catholic schools teach all children that they have tremendous potential to be excellent human beings with great success. They offer kids an alternative to public schools and a choice for a culture that they and their parents can really believe in.”
CPS recently received the prestigious Innovation in Education Award from Today’s Catholic Teacher and the Peter Li Education Group, presented at the annual conference of the National Catholic Educational Association (a client of YPTC). One of 12 national recipients of the 15th Annual Catholic Schools for Tomorrow Award, Catholic Partnership Schools was named an innovator in the category of restructuring and merging schools.
In addition to her work with Catholic Partnership Schools, Alleva has a background in board service, fund development and volunteer work with many community organizations including the Junior League of Philadelphia, Junior Achievement, the Nonprofit Development Center of Southern New Jersey, Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, the Pastoral Council of Holy Eucharist Church, and St. Mary of the Lakes School PTA.
