DENVER, CO—As a TV pundit, author and spokesperson, Rachel Campos-Duffy is a leading advocate for school choice and empowers minority, low-income families to provide their children with a bright future.
“Minority and low-income parents are just as capable as wealthy parents of identifying schools that are providing a first-class education,” said Campos-Duffy, who lives with her husband and seven children in Wisconsin. “We need to start empowering families with the choice of a Catholic education, with the opportunity to excel in their studies and become the next leaders of our nation.”
Campos-Duffy, a Catholic Latina whose grandparents emigrated from Mexico, supports school choice and the Denver-based nonprofit Seeds of Hope, which makes families’ dreams of a Catholic education a reality through tuition assistance, scholarships and grants. She will deliver an honest, motivating address at the Evening of Hope gala November 21 about her own family’s sacrifices and the fundamental right to a quality education.
“It’s been proven time and time again—it’s not a family’s income that blocks a quality education,” she said. “Private schools are shown to be particularly effective in Hispanic communities where students gained five extra weeks in math and three extra weeks in reading compared to students in traditional public schools, according to a recent study. These results confirm it’s not the kids—it’s the school.”
On average, nearly 68 percent of students attending the 10 Catholic schools supported by Seeds of Hope identify as Hispanic. Executive director Natalie Mesko said Seeds of Hope is honored to host Campos-Duffy to urge support for Hispanic families, a quickly growing community in Colorado that should have access to a Catholic education.
“The subject of parental school choice, particularly for our hardworking minority families, is increasingly in need of attention on the regional scale,” Mesko said. “Though school choice has been around for 20-plus years, we are hoping to empower more Colorado families to provide the best education they choose for their children, and for many of them, Catholic schools are the answer. Rachel represents this message from a national level and applauds Seeds of Hope’s efforts to give opportunities to our Hispanic families seeking a Catholic education.”
Seeds of Hope will host the Evening of Hope gala starting 5:30 p.m. at the Brown Palace Hotel, 321 17th St., in downtown Denver. Seeds of Hope’s mission is to make the tremendous benefit of Catholic education available to economically-disadvantaged students in Denver.
Campos-Duffy is an author and TV personality, appearing on national programs including FOX News’ Outnumbered, NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s The View, CNN and EWTN’s The World Over Live. She is the national spokesperson for the LIBRE Initiative, an organization that promotes economic liberty, empowerment, and opportunity for Hispanics.