Since 2009, Porto Charities has provided $1.7M in direct funding to Catholic schools in the Diocese of Arlington. Porto Charities annually provides these grants to assist with salary support and professional development.

Recognizing that without qualified educators, the ability to enroll students needing significant support is diminished greatly, we will continue to financially support advanced coursework and degrees in the field of Special Education. In collaboration with the Office of Catholic Schools, we will develop a body of targeted professional development across a multitude of subjects to enhance knowledge and skills.

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE), allowing us to underwrite the cost of training and certifying educators in the Orton-Gillingham approach. This method provides educators with the ability to develop an individualized, structured, multi-sensory plan to teach reading and vocabulary skills to students with varied learning abilities.

To meet the needs of school leaders, we will develop occasions for leadership teams to hear from experts in the field of inclusive education and opportunities to dialogue, explore, and learn with their Diocesan colleagues.

The heart of the Center’s mission will be to reach, in meaningful ways, school leaders, educators, and support staff, but also provide opportunities for parents and caregivers.

As we look to ultimately extend Porto’s outreach beyond the boundaries of our Diocese, we will expand the webinar series offerings made to both educators and caregivers, and will develop new opportunities and enhance current ones, such as the annual Diocesan Conference on Disabilities co-hosted with the Diocese of Arlington.

To assist in facilitating this outreach, we will relaunch the school

ambassador/liaison program across the Diocese of Arlington. These

ambassadors will be knowledgeable of the needs and gifts of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and able to speak to the mission of Porto Charities.

The Porto Charities Center for Learning and Leadership seeks to provide Catholic School educators with a learning network that allows them, in Pope Leo XIV’s words, to “be servants of the world of education, choreographers of hope, tireless seekers of wisdom, credible creators of expressions of beauty” as they provide opportunities for children of all abilities to learn daily immersed in our Faith.

I invite you to read this article published by the Catholic Herald about our official launch event. If you are interested in learning more about how we can help build the capacity of your school to serve students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, please reach out to me at education@portocharities.org.