Seed-funded by GHR last year as part of a shared racial equity exploration, the newly launched Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Center at the University of St. Thomas will serve as a central hub to foster and strengthen racial justice and inclusion programs.

It will provide several programming initiatives, including academic partnerships and training with the St. Thomas faculty, racial healing for Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities, interfaith programs and culture in relation to BIPOC communities, and social justice and campus transformation. 

​Learn more.

From February 20th to May 9th, 2022, a TV ad across the Upper Midwest will spotlight the GHR Fellows Program at the Opus College of Business. Aimed at developing business leaders who are ethically minded, innovative, community engaged and globally aware, the program is rooted in the shared values of the Foundation and the University of St. Thomas, grounded in Catholic Social Justice – of working in service of the common good.  

The fellowship program is funded by a $50M grant to UST from the Foundation. Ten students are added each year as freshmen to this highly competitive, transformational undergraduate experience for students pursuing careers in business. Fellows receive full-tuition scholarships to the University of St. Thomas and customized programming designed to deliver leadership experiences, including global exposure.
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Learn more.

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. 

City Connects is a signature program of the Drexel Mission Schools in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. A significant new investment from an anonymous donor will ensure the sustainability of the program by endowing the Center at Boston College, sustaining City Connects programming to better the lives of even more children while supporting the growing needs of communities across the nation. 

Founded in 2001 by Dr. Mary Walsh and her colleagues in the Boston Public Schools, City Connects has provided especially critical support for schoolchildren and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Center for Optimized Student Support, the home of City Connects at Boston College, will be renamed the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children in Dr. Walsh’s honor. 

Learn more.

​GHR Foundation believes education can transform an individual as it did Gerry Rauenhorst, one of our founders, a first-generation college student and a St. Thomas alum. The beginning of this school year marks a point of pride for GHR, as the inaugural cohort of GHR Fellows begins their first year at the University of St. Thomas.

A partnership between GHR Foundation and the St. Thomas Opus College of Business, the GHR Fellows program is an endowed scholarship for business majors. This highly competitive program is designed to attract future business leaders who exemplify the mission of the university and model GHR values: globally-minded, ethics-oriented changemakers who embody the entrepreneurial spirit, and seek to create enduring value for society.

Ten GHR Fellows have been selected to receive scholarships providing them with full tuition for four years, a fully funded J-Term study abroad experience, curated programming, customized social entrepreneurship opportunities and more. In offering this scholarship, the university will be able to recruit and retain excellent students who might not otherwise have access to such an opportunity. 

Representing a diverse range of backgrounds, the inaugural cohort of GHR Fellows is composed of ten students with outstanding track records, of extraordinary promise, who bring with them a variety of enriching experiences, skills and stories.

Tri Nhan Pham, a first-generation student born in Vietnam and raised in Shakopee, MN, said of the program: “My goal is simple: to leave a legacy that my mom would be proud of. I am ready and excited to take on everything that St. Thomas and the GHR Fellows program has to offer.” 

Learn more about GHR’s support of innovative, high-quality education at Marquette University, St. Catherine University and the University of St. Thomas by visiting our Higher Education Initiative.

Education is a powerful tool for changing lives and strengthening communities. The education our founders received shaped them, and we continue their commitment to providing hope and opportunity through education by investing in innovative, values-based institutions.

Today, the University of St. Thomas announced a scholarship drive to infuse $200 million into support for students over the next eight years.  GHR Foundation has committed $50 million as the lead gift designated entirely for scholarships.

With GHR’s gift, St. Thomas will establish a pre-eminent four-year endowed scholarship program for business majors called GHR Fellows. This highly competitive program is designed to attract future business leaders who embody the mission of the university and model GHR values: globally-minded, ethics-oriented changemakers who seek create enduring value for society.

Each year, fifteen GHR Fellows will be selected to receive scholarships providing them with full tuition for four years, a fully funded J-Term study abroad experience, individualized career coaching, customized social entrepreneurship opportunities and more. By offering this scholarship, the university will be able recruit and retain excellent students who might not otherwise have access to such an opportunity.

GHR Foundation believes education can transform an individual as it did Gerry Rauenhorst, one of our founders, a first-generation college student and a St. Thomas alum. We are proud to help educate students to be principled leaders who think critically, work skillfully and act wisely to advance the common good. To learn more about GHR's Higher Education funding, contact us.

From Star Tribune:

The hope is to attract more exceptional students like sophomore business major Madison Morehouse. Morehouse, 19, grew up in Rosemount, the daughter of a plumber and a loan officer. A standout high school student, she’s the first in her family to attend college. She visited St. Thomas several times while in high school and it was her first choice for college, but the high price tag initially made it seem out of reach.

“I loved how I felt when I was there. When I was there, I felt important,” Morehouse said. “My parents were very up front with me. I could go wherever I wanted, but that loan would be taken out.”

When she got the e-mail from St. Thomas offering her $29,000 in a renewable annual scholarship, Morehouse squealed in the middle of her high school study hall.

“I would not have been able to go to St. Thomas [without the scholarship]. That is the reality of it,” Morehouse said.
Read the full story (PDF)

The founders of GHR Foundation left a set of enduring values, one of which is the importance of innovative, values-based higher education. GHR lives out this value through investments to three legacy institutions: Marquette University’s Opus College of Engineering, St. Catherine University’s Henrietta Schmoll School of Health and the University of St. Thomas’ Opus College of Business. Each university receives an annual grant of $1 million to advance the school through “Legacy Initiative Plans” developed in partnership with GHR.

The deans of these three institutions came together recently for the first time to meet one another and share learnings. The landscape of higher education is changing quickly, and the legacy grants help institutions adapt. Through conversations about how the grant fits into their universities, the participants were able to gain wider perspectives on trends in higher education, learn about innovative programs and discuss the path forward. These new lines of communication will support future knowledge sharing and collaboration.

​Each school shared how the legacy grant has been a catalyst for innovation by helping launch a new program, enhancing an existing approach or responding to a compelling challenge. The deans spent time discussing GHR’s goals and strategies, common challenges the institutions face and the role of the legacy grant in overcoming these challenges. GHR also asked the universities for feedback on a new dashboard of indicators for measuring success, which will be used as GHR fine-tunes how to best carry out the legacy of GHR's founders.

To learn more about how GHR is partnering with higher education institutions to promote education that creates a positive transformation in individuals, communities and our world, contact us.

GHR Foundation's Higher Education funding promotes innovative, values-based Catholic education that creates positive transformation in individuals, communities and the world. GHR recently awarded an $18 million grant to St. Catherine University to support growth and innovation in healthcare education.

The grant aligns the missions of both organizations by fostering hope and opportunity for students in the healthcare arena, while honoring GHR co-founder and St. Catherine University alumna, Henrietta Schmoll Rauenhorst.  The investment supports the ongoing expansion of the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health. In accepting the grant, St. Catherine University President Andrea Lee noted that “this generous gift inspires both gratitude and excitement in all of us at St. Catherine – gratitude for the expansive vision and generosity of the GHR Foundation and its founders, and excitement at the transformative impact this gift will have on the groundbreaking work of the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health.”

St. Catherine University will use the grant to develop new programs and fund technology and faculty as it addresses the critical and ever-changing needs in senior living, primary care and global health. "GHR Foundation is pleased to support St. Catherine University as it strengthens its globally-focused, collaborative approach to educating a diverse student population and addresses the extreme shortage of skilled healthcare professionals," said GHR CEO and Chair Amy Goldman. "Through this gift, GHR honors and advances our founders' values by deepening the impact of the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health."

To learn more about GHR’s support of higher education institutions in their pursuits to deliver programmatic excellence and graduate world-class scholars who exhibit a strong moral and ethical core, contact us.

GHR Foundation’s Catholic Schools Initiative works to close the achievement gap, in part, by incubating new education models. Blended learning, which focuses on several elements including professional development and strengthening leadership capacity, is an approach GHR is currently funding at three Twin Cities Catholic schools. Jane Bona, principal of Immaculate Conception—one of these three schools—was recently honored with an award from National Catholic Education Association (NCEA), recognizing her excellence as a principal. Members of the GHR board visited Jane and Immaculate Conception during a program and results committee meeting in Sept. 2014. 

At the annual NCEA convention in March, Jane will receive the Lead. Learn. Proclaim. award, recognizing excellence and distinguished service in Catholic school education. As new models are adopted, effective school leaders are increasingly necessary. Blended learning requires spaces which encourage dialogue and reflection facilitated by competent leadership. With professional development and culture as two important aspects of the blended learning program, this NCEA recognition is an important indicator of success at Immaculate Conception. 

Immaculate Conception is an excellent example of how GHR is funding blended learning and other innovative approaches in hopes of strengthening urban Catholic schools by fostering healthy school cultures and cultivating strong, caring leaders. To learn more about GHR's Catholic school funding, contact us.

​GHR Foundation's Catholic Schools funding works to ensure the Twin Cities’ urban Catholic schools are faith-filled, academically excellent educational communities that prepare children to be college-ready, productive citizens. One of the key strategies we use to support Catholic schools is testing and incubating new models which will lead to viable and academically excellent schools. Finding new approaches to instruction, student support and governance requires partnership with like-minded, forward-thinking organizations.
 
GHR staff and board members recently attended a convening of the Philanthropy Roundtable Catholic schools working group.  Over two days in Agoura Hills, Calif., more than 20 Catholic school funders met to discuss how working collaboratively on a national scale impacts work on a local level. Members of the GHR team met with key thought leaders from the National Catholic Education Association and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to advocate and discuss partnership.
 
The group split divided into small conversations, tackling issues including the expansion of school network and governance models, accessing performance data and developing talent and leadership.  The GHR team also had the opportunity to visit the headquarters of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and learn about their new strategies for supporting parental choice efforts.
 
These opportunities for collaboration, partnership and learning are key for the incubation and development of new models. If you are interested in learning more about new approaches to instruction, student support and governance, contact us.