With His Eminence Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan in attendance, the Partnership for Inner-City Education’s December 3rd holiday party at Burden Mansion was a warm, wonderful celebration.  

In record numbers, Partnership Trustee board members, along with school board members, students and friends of the organization met and mingled, some for the first time.  The evening got underway with a warm welcome from Executive Director Jill Kafka, followed by stirring words from Chief Academic Officer and Superintendent, Kathleen Porter-Magee.   As Porter-Magee noted, what the Partnership strives to accomplish is to create an innovative model of Catholic education that can be replicated and can deliver academic excellence for all 2113 students in the network.  As always a highlight of the evening was Chair Russ Carson, who so graciously thanked everyone for not only attending the evening’s festivities but for attending to the needs of the students and the schools with their time and donations.  Never one to miss an opportunity to give full-throttled support for the Partnership, Cardinal Dolan, who overcame a terrible cold to attend, also noted the urgency around the work of the Partnership.   With harmony and joy the Sacred Heart Choir then serenaded guests with magical renditions of “Night of Silence” and “Hear the Bells”.