Truly, social investment 

Two decades ago, Harris Rosen, who grew up poor on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and became wealthy in the Florida hotel business, decided to shepherd part of his fortune into the troubled Orlando community of Tangelo Park, reports Lizette Alvarez for The New York Times. Twenty-one years later, with an infusion of $11 million of Mr. Rosen's money so far, Tangelo Park is a striking success story. Nearly all its seniors graduate from high school, and most go on to college on full scholarships Mr. Rosen has financed. Can Tangelo Park's progress be replicated? The community is small -- 3,000 people -- and filled with homeowners, making it unusual for an urban area. Tangelo has determined leaders who were fighting the drug trade even before Mr. Rosen's arrival. And it has had Mr. Rosen's focus and financing over 21 years. Alvarez writes that Tangelo Park Program succeeds in large part because of its simplicity. There is no charter school no large bureaucracy, no hunt for money, no staff to speak of. It is run almost entirely by volunteers, mostly community leaders. In all, Mr. Rosen now spends about $500,000 a year, less than when he began the program, he said. "It's not inexpensive," Mr. Rosen said. "You stay until the neighborhood no longer needs you." But, he added, there are a lot of wealthy people with the resources to do the same thing if they choose. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

Published by LEAP

Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.