When it comes to his Catholic education, Rob Delany remembers how neighborhood pride and a sense of community were ever present among the rigid desks, pencils and copybooks.
“Some of the biggest lessons were about community,” Delany said. “When I was growing up in South Philadelphia, we had carnivals and social activities and block parties. It was the center of life.”
Delany grew up near 17th and Shunk streets and attended St. Monica Roman Catholic School before graduating from St. John Neumann High School in 1984. At Neumann, he packed as many activities into his experience as possible, partaking in track and field, ice hockey, biology club, student council and the debate team. He even was an editor for the school newspaper.
“I was a math and science kid growing up and they had a strong math and science program,” Delany said. “It was interesting for me but I also did sports and all kinds of activities. It was really a big experience for me.”
Delany wants nothing more than for every student in the state to share that kind of experience. And as the CEO of Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Schools, better known as BLOCS, he’s rallying Pennsylvania residents to help make that goal possible. BLOCS already hands out $100 million in scholarships to more than 17,000 students.
But why stop there?
“We have big plans for a bigger future and a bigger impact for our children, funding more scholarships and more schools and expanding further across the state,” said Delany, who took on the CEO role in August.
BLOCS serves students in 40 counties throughout the state. He’s hoping to increase that number.
“We’d love to help children in every one of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania and we’ll do whatever it takes,” he said.
BLOCS funds values-based Pennsylvania private schools that offer a Catholic education, even if some of their students are members of another religion. A strategy of fundraising is asking residents to redirect state taxes to fund a need-based scholarship for a student in a local school and receive a 90 percent tax credit refund on the donated amount.
BLOCS also recently announced that the state increased its Economically Disadvantaged School Program tax credit from 90 percent to 99 percent, impacting 130 schools statewide. BLOCS is the sole administrator for the EDS Program, which has no cap for corporate donors and a total budget of $60 million.
Either way, the money helps deserving kids with their tuition costs.
“It’s life changing and it’s night and day,” Delany said. “Gone are the days when a parent can say, ‘Hey, I’m going to pack my lunch instead of going out to lunch and I’ll be able to afford to send my child off to private school.’ The numbers and inflation have really taken hold. A lot of these students would not have the opportunity if it wasn’t for these scholarships.”
If Line 12 on the PA tax return is greater than $3,000, residents are eligible for the program.
“We say BLOCS makes this as easy as 1-2-3,” Delany said. “The 1-2 is Line 12 on your Pennsylvania Tax return. If that number is 3 ($3,000), you should really be doing this. Otherwise, you’re just sending your taxes for the General Assembly to decide where it gets spent.”
Taxpayers can decide exactly where they want their donation to go.
“The fact of the matter is anyone can do this,” he said. “You don’t have to be a tax expert and you don’t have to be a wealthy person. If you make a donation to BLOCS, it’s really just becoming a member of an LLC, which is a document you sign. Then you send in your check and you say where you want it to go. It could go to one school or multiple schools. BLOCS is completely agnostic to that. We’re happy to have the money go wherever the donor would like it to go. They just file with their tax returns and get their tax credit.”
Since Delany’s arrival, BLOCS’ office space in King of Prussia has doubled and the organization has seen significant increases in staff. BLOCS is also the sponsor for the Catholic League basketball championships that will be held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Palestra on Feb. 23.
“We are super excited about it,” Delany said. “That house rocks. It holds a little over 8,700 fans and it can get loud in there. We’re real excited to be a part of that. There will be a lot of BLOCS scholars on the court and BLOCS scholars in the stands. We just couldn’t be happier to be part of that.”
BLOCS’ expansion and lofty goals are already showing with increased money for students. Delany said BLOCS is expecting to distribute about $140 million through 25,000 scholarships this year.
“Before I got here, I thought we could double our impact and it wasn’t too long into it that we think we’re going to be able to triple our impact,” he said. “We are making tremendous investments in people and in our systems to make sure we can serve as many children as possible … We partner with more than 400 schools in helping them to course scholarship money for children in their neighborhoods. There’s lots of work to be done.”
