Implemented in schools serving predominantly under-resourced neighborhoods and families, City Connects helps teachers and schools provide integrated supports to address the in- and out-of-school needs of students and foster their strengths. Providing holistic support to students facing external obstacles to learning is a core aspect of GHR's Education strategy in Twin Cities Catholic schools and animates the Foundation’s long-term partnership with the program. A recent piece from the Boston Globe recognizes City Connects' inspiring founder: 

From the Boston Globe: 

"Her own humble beginnings, and the help she received along the way, drive Mary Walsh’s passion for giving every child a shot at a good education and a good life.

Operating out of the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children at BC, City Connects is now helping 50,000 kids in Massachusetts, eight other states, and Ireland, the country Mary Walsh’s parents left for a better life.

For all she’s done for poor children, Mary Walsh deserved a medal. On Monday, at BC’s commencement, she got one.

BC President William Leahy handed her the Bellarmine Award, named for an Italian cardinal who was a leading intellectual figure in the Counter-Reformation. St. Bellarmine was canonized in 1930.

Appropriate, because what Mary Walsh has done to help poor kids is the work of a saint.

She never forgot where she came from, or that everybody needs a little help sometimes."

Read more.

The GHR Fellows Program at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business is a transformational undergraduate experience for students pursuing careers in business. The first cohort of GHR Fellows graduated in May 2023, stepping out into the world as principled leaders looking to create enduring value for society. 

From The University of St. Thomas Newsroom:

"Established by GHR Foundation, the GHR Fellows program reflects the spirit of former St. Thomas trustee Gerry Rauenhorst, who believed that entrepreneurial creativity inspires solutions that improve lives. Fellows are taught to be principled leaders capable of advancing the common good with a global mindset.

Amy Goldman, CEO and chair of GHR Foundation and vice chair for the University of St. Thomas Board of Trustees, was on hand for one of the first meetings of the inaugural cohort in 2019. The original purpose then – to further deepen the impact of St. Thomas through its graduates – remains as critical as ever.

'Our shared intention is to educate principled business leaders the world needs,” Goldman said. “As this first cohort prepares to embark on their careers beyond St. Thomas, each graduate will embody our intention as they live and work for the common good.'"

Read more. 

From ACIA Africa:

​"Jesuits Refugee Service (JRS), an international refugee entity of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), has set up 'an outreach point' at Renk in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State where thousands of persons fleeing the Sudan war that broke out on April 15 are being served.

In a Monday, May 22 interview with ACI Africa, Fr. Francis Njuguna highlighted the services that JRS is facilitating at Renk in the Northeastern part of South Sudan, one of the entry points for those fleeing violence in Sudan’s capital city, Khartoum.

'We have stationed an outreach point in Renk in which we are able to offer services from the Maban base such as psychological, first aid, physiotherapy services, and counseling,' Fr. Njuguna said.

The Jesuit Priest added that 'all the services being offered there are basic and pretty much on a case-to-case basis, providing only temporary relief.'"

Read more. 

From AMECEA Social Communications:

"A Regional Portrait of Catholic Care for Children in Eastern Africa was officially launched on Tuesday, May 16 and it is designated as the first significant study of its kind that describes Catholic-sponsored care for children in the region using data collected from Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, and Zambia.

The launch served as a watershed moment for the three-day Catholic Care for Children International Conference, which was organized to discuss child protection and safeguarding and ways to fortify families for better child care from the perspective of the Catholic church’s consortium and its partners.

In a speech preceding the actual launch, Sr. Niluka Perera, RGS, CCCI Coordinator of the Union of International Superiors General (UISG) in Rome, said, 'We women religious are at the forefront of taking care of children and therefore UISG felt the need to take up the area of care of children by the women religious as one of their main responsibility.'"

​Download and read the report here. 

From May 16-18, 2023, UISG Catholic Care for Children International and GHR convened episcopal leaders, government representatives and Catholic sisters from east Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. Highlights from the convening from Global Sisters Report:

"Catholic Care for Children International's mission is to support institutes of consecrated life ministering on child care to read the signs of the times, reduce the need for care in institutions, prevent family separation, and provide alternatives to enable children to grow up in a safe and loving family environment.

Religious sisters in four African nations — Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya — have been at the forefront of this effort.

Sr. Niluka Perera, the coordinator of Catholic Care for Children International, said the gathering has brought together episcopal leaders, government representatives, Catholic sisters, advocacy groups and policymakers from East Africa to "reflect upon and discern the Catholic Church's growing commitment to ensure all children are safe."

'We have converged here as stakeholders because we realized that the work of taking care of children is the responsibility of everyone,' Perera told Global Sisters Report in an interview at Boma Hotel in Nairobi. 'All the children belong to God. Therefore, everyone from parents, relatives, society, the church and the government is responsible for caring for them. Once children are born, they become our responsibility to bring them up in a loving environment.'

Perera, a member of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, applauded the efforts by the sisters from the East African region for the past few years since the Catholic Care for Children initiative launched in the region and urged other stakeholders to join the sisters and ensure every child grows up in a nurturing family environment. A Sri Lankan nun who is also a social worker, Perera said the initiative had decided to change the strategy and involve other stakeholders, including government representatives, civil society organizations, the community and parents, to ensure more children are placed in families instead of institutions.

'CCCI realized that the sisters were working alone and decided to bring other stakeholders so that sisters could share with them their ideas, experiences and challenges of bringing up children in a safe environment," said Perera, who was appointed by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in September 2022. "We also wanted to bring together sisters from various congregations and countries under one roof to exchange ideas and improve their pursuit of bringing up children in a loving environment.'

Kathleen Mahoney, a program officer of GHR Foundation, applauded the sisters from the four African countries for reintegrating nearly 4,000 children since 2019 from more than 70 charitable institutions. GHR provides funding in the four African countries for the training of sisters in social work, case management and child care programs and assisting in the transition from institutional to family care. (GHR Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation also fund Global Sisters Report.)"

Read more. 

From the Association for Catholic Information in Africa: 

"The moral requirement to safeguard children is not new, the Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has said. In his Tuesday, May 16 address at the convention of stakeholders of the Catholic Care for Children International (CCCI) in the region of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) in Nairobi, Fr. Andrew Small also cautioned against the tendency to point fingers at others as perpetrators of child abuse.

'It was always wrong to abuse children; this is not a new moral requirement,' Fr. Small said. 

He added, 'The Ministry of Service, Ministry of Safeguarding is a core mission to respect and protect the dignity of human persons and proclaim the truth of God's love for us.'"

Read more.

From Association for Catholic Information in Africa: 

"'The Church is called upon to ensure all children are well taken care of and are exploiting their full potential,' Archbishop Kivuva said during the CCCI event that has been realized by the collaboration of the Association of Religious Sisters in Kenya (AOSK), Gerald and Henrietta Rauenhorst (GHR)  Foundation, and AMECEA.'"

Read more. 

From Nature:

"AD pathology should be targeted before the onset of dementia. Research has shown that AD develops in the course of 20–30 years10,11. By the time AD manifests as dementia, the brain can no longer be rescued. This provides a huge window of opportunity for preventive action. To optimally employ these possibilities, we need a paradigm shift with a focus on (1) individual characteristics and preferences and (2) the stages before dementia to ultimately (3) prevent progression to dementia. Effective deployment of preventive strategies requires timely identification of individuals who would benefit the most. Further development of diagnostic tests to detect early AD pathophysiological changes, also capturing differences in pathological pathways between patients, is therefore warranted. Individual preferences and patient-reported outcomes should be the starting point for high-quality individualized care."

​Read more. 

Catholic sisters are champions of care reform. Working with governmental, civic, and church leaders, and within their local communities, they are leading efforts to transition from institutional care toward family- and community-based care. Their leadership, service and spiritual witness have advanced the common good through a profound commitment to working on behalf of the vulnerable and marginalized. 

From May 16-18, 2023, UISG Catholic Care for Children International and GHR are convening episcopal leaders, government representatives and Catholic sisters from east Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. The convening marks the launch of a collaborative effort between Catholic Care for Children International (CCCI), the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), and GHR Foundation on the regional portrait, a first-of-its-kind foundational study on Catholic care. Focused on east Africa, the regional portrait offers data and information on care reform and the significant shifts and progress led by Catholic sisters in the region. It promises to have a significant impact on the sector writ large.

Download and read the regional portrait here.

Via our Global domain, GHR supports Catholic sisters and other key faith actors who are championing care reform. Learn more about our work here.