40 Years of inner-city school success
B Y JOE B RID E
As Catholic Inner-city Schools Education (CISE) celebrates 40 years of transformational success, it is important to remember Cincinnati businesses were at the heart of CISE’s creation.
all around us, building up our community. They are business people and clergy, teachers and law enforcement, the military, doctors and nurses, and moms and dads.
In 1980, Cincinnati had a strong and viable downtown, more so than many American cities, but its downtown and neighborhoods were changing. Many families were moving to the suburbs, leaving lower-income families behind. This change in demographics meant parish schools in downtown Cincinnati were at risk of closing.
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING
Ed Harness at Procter and Gamble, and Ralph Lazarus at Lazarus Filing Services, along with fellow business leaders, believed these neighborhoods could continue to thrive, and more children would be educated if the inner-city Catholic schools stayed open. To that effect, the Cincinnati business community supported the founding of CISE. Since that time, not only have CISE schools become landmarks of importance in these neighborhoods, but CISE graduates are 3 2 | N EWS
CISE’s original concept was to raise funds in support of the schools with parents providing some financial assistance for tuition, based on their means. As time passed, poverty in the inner-city grew and CISE began stepping up to provide greater support, adding wraparound services and programs to the schools. COVID-19 is the biggest challenge CISE has faced, but true to its history of creative problem-solving, CISE responded quickly to implement strategies and tactics to facilitate distance-learning during closures. “Because of the closing of the schools, we had two major goals,” said Mabe Rodriguez, CISE executive director. “We had to find ways to continue educating our 2,400 children, with
