Josephinum Academy will purchase its longtime home with support from the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation's Catholic Initiative, ensuring its mission to serve young women, and establish its first endowment.
CHICAGO, April 7, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart, Chicago's longest-standing all-girls Catholic high school, has received a major commitment from the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation's Catholic Initiative to support the purchase of its longtime home at 1501 N. Oakley Blvd, which it has leased for many years. Now focused on raising the remaining $1.8 million needed to complete the $9.4 million purchase price, Josephinum is ensuring its mission to serve young women across Chicago will continue.
In March, the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation launched the Catholic Initiative, an innovative funding model aimed at supporting vibrant Catholic schools, churches, and parishes by restoring, endowing and establishing them as thriving community hubs. Josephinum is honored to be among the first three projects undertaken by this important initiative. Through the Catholic Initiative, the Foundation will not only secure the future ownership of the school property but will also collaborate with the school and its donors to support Josephinum's first-ever endowment, in order to fund scholarships, expand educational programs, and restore and modernize the campus.
Josephinum and The Catholic Initiative will create a dedicated nonprofit organization solely for the purpose of owning the school property. Josephinum will enter into an iron-clad 200-year lease for $1 per year, for the exclusive and permanent right to use the property in furtherance of its mission.
"Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls school that empowers young women from diverse and under-resourced backgrounds, is a beautiful example of the generational impact of a holistic Catholic education," said Kevin Doyle, Chief Operating Officer for the Pulte Family Foundation and President of the Catholic Initiative. "We are proud to not only work with 'The Jo' to secure the future of their physical space, but also to help increase access to this amazing education and support the school's long-term financial stability. Our partnership aims to fuel the school's transformative student experiences, as well as support Josephinum in its growing role as a cornerstone of the broader Wicker Park community"
Josephinum's President, Richard McMenamin, expressed his belief in the impact of the Catholic Initiative partnership for Josephinum. "We are honored to be selected as one of the Catholic Initiative's flagship projects. This partnership is a significant step forward, and we are committed to raising the remaining funds needed to purchase the building. With increased donor and community support, we will continue lifting up students from communities too often left behind—people of color, under-resourced, and young women—within the Network of Sacred Heart Schools."
To donate to Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart, visit www.josephinum.org/foreverjo or contact Patrick Needham, Senior Director of Advancement, at [email protected].
About Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart
Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart offers academic excellence combined with holistic, moral, and spiritual development in an affordable college-preparatory environment for girls in Chicago. The school serves a diverse population of young women representing 20 different nationalities and 35 zip codes. Independent data shows Josephinum Academy graduates consistently outperform peer students from peer urban schools in college matriculation and college completion.
About the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation
Guided by the belief in the inherent dignity of all people, the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation works to meet the basic human needs of the most marginalized members of the human family, including socioeconomically disadvantaged youth; the aged; persons with physical, emotional, and mental disabilities; and those with the fewest material resources. The Foundation strives to enact through its grantees the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty; clothe the naked; care for captives; shelter the homeless; visit the sick, and assist the mourning.
About the Catholic Initiative
The Catholic Initiative is an innovative, Vatican-approved funding model created to restore and endow vibrant Catholic churches, schools, and parishes for generations to come. The model is the first of its kind in the world in faith-based fundraising and shifts ownership of church buildings and campuses to a newly created nonprofit organization created solely for this purpose, with The Catholic Initiative assuming responsibility for renovating and maintaining the property going forward, while the parishes or schools retain exclusive and permanent rights to use the property, without risk of vital funds being redirected to other purposes. The model also creates a dedicated endowment to guarantee a reliable, steady income stream to support churches, schools,
Media Contact
Dorothy Coyle, Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart, 1 773-332-6201, [email protected], josephinum.org
SOURCE Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart
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