Barbara Dawson, RSCJ, has been recognized for the excellence of her Catholic School leadership in Oakland, particularly among those most in need. See two articles that appeared this month in the Oakland papers (excerpts are below with links to the full articles). Click here for a short Flash-based presentation about St. Martin de Porres and Barbara Dawson.

A Catholic school's saving grace: How one devoted nun helped to turn around St. Martin de Porres, by Katy Murphy, InsideBayArea.com

OAKLAND - Early each morning, a group of mothers and their small children wait for a van to pull up to St. Martin de Porres' West Oakland campus.

When the shuttle arrives to take the kids to the elementary school site about one mile north, Sister Barbara Dawson is often behind the wheel.

Dawson, the president of St. Martin de Porres School, knows many parents don't have driver's licenses or cars. She knows that without the van service, they would have to send their children to another school. She knows that if that happens, the last Catholic school in West Oakland - named after the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed black slave - might close.

It almost did.

When Dawson, a lawyer, was still a public policy director for Catholic Charities, she learned that St. Martin de Porres was headed for the same fate that had beset so many other Catholic schools in the city.

Enrollment at the two-campus school had slipped since the merger of St. Columba, St. Patrick and Sacred Heart schools in 1996. By 2002, it had just 88 students in its nine grade levels, and it was running a huge deficit.

Dawson thought about the history of Catholic schools in the area. Since the late 1800s, they had provided an anchor for immigrant families. In 2002, they remained something of a haven as gangs - including the notorious ``Nut Cases'' - were terrorizing Oakland streets.

Somebody had to do something, she recalled thinking. ``So I offered to come Advertisement over and help.''

Three years later, the school has a stable budget and twice as many students. About half of them are Catholic, and almost all come from Latino immigrant or African-American families. Most receive financial assistance.

St. Martin de Porres's survival is a hopeful story for Catholic education in the inner-city. The school was able to turn itself around, even when all signs pointed to its closure.

``Even though it's in one of the most dangerous blocks in the whole city, people come,'' Dawson said.

Dawson had never headed a school before she came to St. Martin de Porres in 2003. But she had many contacts from her policy work and religious life to whom she knew she could turn for help. Her order, the Religious of the Sacred Heart, runs schools in the Bay Area...[Excerpt taken from InsideBayArea.com]

OAKLAND — While waiting with her family in the front lobby of St. Martin de Porres school, 5-year-old Natalie Sowers quietly excused herself. Moments later, her mother looked up and saw her kneeling before a nativity scene, hands folded and head bowed.

"This here is my prayer box," Carolyn Jefferson said about her daughter, after she returned.

Like many families at St. Martin de Porres, Jefferson's family is Baptist. Jefferson chose to send Natalie to the Catholic school because it seemed a good alternative to the public school system and it was close to their neighborhood.

But she didn't anticipate that her daughter and niece would come home singing songs from Mass. Or that her 8-year-old son, Aaron Jefferson, would ask her one evening if the two of them could "feed the homeless, and not just for the holidays."

Looking fondly at her son, who seemed mildly embarrassed that his project had been made public, Jefferson said, "They've become really compassionate kids."

As the Catholic school system shrinks at an unnerving rate, church and school leaders know they need to more clearly emphasize what distinguishes it from other school options. A recent diocesan survey of parents showed that religious values were the most important factor in their decision to give their children a Catholic education, followed by safety, structure and discipline.

Regardless of their religious beliefs, parents at St. Martin de Porres seem to appreciate the school's blend of morality and academic rigor. In fact, the school's president, Sister Barbara Dawson, said her non-Catholic, African-American parents have a common critique: They don't take the children to church often enough...[Excerpt taken from InsideBayArea.com]