PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc. & MEF Partner to Invest in Student Success!
On April 6th, Midtown Educational Foundation (MEF) was the grateful recipient of a $100,000 grant from the PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc.! This grant will help fund MEF's College Orientation Program (COP) for low-income high school youth in Chicago.
Mary Presberg, a member of both MEF’s Board of Directors & Metro Advancement Council, facilitated this generous partnership via PwC Foundation’s Reimagine Grant Program. Mary is a Partner in the company’s Advisory Services Group. She is a longtime volunteer and has always been an incredibly dedicated advocate on behalf of MEF students and families.
MEF is overwhelmed with gratitude - a gift of this magnitude will undoubtedly make a grand impact on the new cohort of COP students, their families, and their futures.
“PwC has been a valued partner with MEF for years. This generous gift takes our partnership to a whole new level! We cannot begin to thank the PwC Foundation enough for this donation and all of the good things that will result because of it” says MEF Executive Director, Glenn Wilke.
Second from the left is PwC's Mary Presberg, member of MEF's Board of Directors & Metro Advancement Council. Photo taken at MEF's annual Reach for Excellence Awards Dinner.
COP’s college identification process focuses on both personal fit and financial feasibility. Alongside college application assistance and FAFSA counseling, COP has enabled 100% of MEF Seniors to enroll in college for the past 18 years. During the school year, college prep work is enriched by character education, individual mentoring, & extracurriculars. In the summer, COP transitions focus to career readiness where students learn from professionals in specialized fields & demonstrate marketable skills by producing hands-on projects
“MEF is different than the kinds of programs my peers attended. They encouraged me to grow academically, yet also helped me to develop my other interests. Growth as a person meant being treated as a valuable, unique person, not as a number, a racial stereotype, or an economic income level.” (MEF alum, Northwestern graduate, USC Social Sciences Master’s Program graduate)
PwC Foundation’s gift comes to the COP Program at an exciting time as staff and volunteers prepare to send the Class of 2018 off to college. The generous funds will continue to make MEF student success possible while advancing the opportunities available to each student. Aside from this robust financial support, MEF is looking so very forward to the volunteerism collaboration ahead!
MEF is honored and grateful to be a beneficiary of a Reimagine Grant from the PwC Foundation and looks forward to the many opportunities the new partnership will provide.
The PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc. is a section 501(c)(3) organization that makes contributions to the people of PwC in times of financial hardship, and to nonprofit organizations that support and promote education and humanitarianism.
Midtown Educational Foundation guides low-income urban youth in Chicago along pathways of success. Our proven enrichment programs embrace the dignity of the person by focusing on academic excellence, virtue development, individual attention, and parental engagement. Visit www.midtown-metro.org or call (312) 738-8300 for further information.