Dance Competition To Raise Funds For Local Schools
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- KYW Newsradio's Kristen Johanson will put down her mic and put on her dancing shoes this weekend for the 'Dancing For Our Future Stars' event.
Saturday's competition raises money for the Independence Mission Schools (IMS), providing the majority of scholarship money for 4,700 Philadelphia kids.
Anne McGoldrick is President of the 15-schools cluster, and says the system was formed in 2013 after many key inner city Catholic schools were closed by the Archdiocese.
"It's kind of a combination of very high expectations, but also high support for our children to succeed," McGoldrick said.
"We are a scholarship model, so almost all of our families receive financial aid to have their child attend the school, but interestingly almost all of the families pay something out of their own pockets."
Each school provides education, breakfast and lunch, and after-school activities in art and technology based programs. They gear the curriculum towards the success of each child.
"The whole focus in our schools is on recognizing the beauty in each child, recognizing the potential in each child, and helping them to fully realize this," she said. "Our kids are so fantastic, I think they are just beautiful and they have an incredible amount of potential."
They start each child early in pre-K, and work to get each one reading on-level by the 4th grade.
"It's very important for all children, but especially important for children from low-income backgrounds."
The 'Dancing For Our Future Stars' event is this Saturday at the Crystal Tea Room at 6pm. Some tickets are still available.
A vote for Kristen is $10. Text "DFOFS6" to 71777.
Otherwise, you can donate and vote by visiting: http://www.dance4ims.com/
For more about Independence Mission Schools: https://independencemissionschools.org/
