The Ethel and Ronald Gruen Endowed Fund for the Advancement of Secondary Jewish Education recently announced that itwill award grants of $20,000 each to eight schools across the country that are intended to provide need-based scholarships to students or to support the schools’ mechina or beginners programs. In addition to these eight schools, four other schools earlier this year received similar grants of $22,500 each. The gift will be administered through Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership.
The YU School Partnership was founded in 2008 to ensure the excellence and sustainability of Jewish day schools. It aims to advance Jewish education by providing support in the recruitment of teachers and school leadership, professional development and guidance in strategic planning and day school economics.
The eight new grantees of $20,000 are:
- Denver Academy of Torah
- Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh
- Kohelet Yeshiva High School in Philadelphia
- Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, Md.
- RASG Hebrew Academy in Miami Beach
- Robert M. Beren Academy in Houston
- Yavneh Academy of Dallas
- Yeshiva Atlanta High School
The four schools that received $22,500 each earlier this year are:
- Machne Israel in New York
- Texas Friends of Chabad
- Yeshiva University High School for Boys in New York
- Yeshiva University High School for Girls in New York
Dr. Herbert C. Dobrinsky, YU’s vice president for university affairs, declared, “A total of 52 institutions have already benefitted from the Gruen’s almost $3 million endowment. Ethel Gruen, well into her 90s, carries on the legacy of her partner in mitzvot. They have inspired other organizations to follow their example by extending tuition grants to day schools throughout the Jewish community. Surely the memory of Ronald Gruen, z”l is a source of enduring blessings for Jewish children for generations to come.”