With a simple mission of providing four-year, K-8th grade scholarships to low-income families in Philadelphia and a small but passionate staff, CSFP currently serves 3,500 children enrolled at approximately 200 private, and parochial schools. The demand for access to safe, high quality primary schools is tremendous. Each year CSFP must turn away more than 7,000 children desperate for better educational opportunities.
Though other scholarship programs exist*, CSFP uniquely focuses on K-8th grade, where the foundation of a child’s educational success is set. These four year scholarships are awarded by random lottery and are available for up to three children in a family. CSFP families become active partners in the educational process contributing a minimum of $500 per family towards tuition. CSFP students’ average attendance rate is more than 96%. And thanks to the vested interest of parents and the commitment of the CSFP support system, CSFP alumni are graduating high school prepared and on time, at rates of 95% compared to Philadelphia’s public school rate of 57%.
*Please be advised that Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia is the only Pennsylvania-based partner program of the Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF, a national organization based in New York, established in 1998). Please also be advised that “The Children’s Scholarship Fund of Pennsylvania” is not affiliated with, and has never been a program partner to, either CSFP or CSF.




