The Gureghian Charitable Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit founded and operated by Vahan and Danielle Gureghian. The Foundation provides scholarships for Chester Community Charter School (CCCS) graduates to attend high schools. CCCS is Pennsylvania’s largest non-profit K-8 charter school located in Chester, Pennsylvania, one of the Commonwealth’s most economically disadvantaged communities. Scholarship recipients have enrolled in some of the most academically rigorous and prestigious high schools in the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan area.
The Gureghians’ commitment to Chester’s children extends beyond the provision of scholarships. As the operators of CSMI, LLC, an educational management organization that develops and supports charter schools, they have focused on improving educational outcomes by freeing educators from non-academic tasks so that the teachers can focus exclusively on teaching. CSMI supports the schools for which it consults by working collaboratively with their governing boards and appointed leaders.
CSMI has provided consulting support to CCCS since the 1990s, during which time the school has become one of Pennsylvania’s great educational success stories. The school opened in 1998 with an enrollment of 97 students, housed in a local Howard Johnson, and it has grown to serve roughly 4,500 students providing state-of-the-art resources and facilities. The school has transformed the lives of thousands of students and their families, who for many years had very few quality educational options available to them – if any, at all.
About the founders
Vahan and Danielle Gureghian
The belief that all students can succeed if given the right opportunities is a tenet that the Gureghians passionately support. The Gureghian Charitable Foundation was founded on the notion that financially disadvantaged students can have a chance to compete and succeed if the educational divide between the privileged and the underprivileged narrows and educational opportunities for the underprivileged widen. Through the Foundation, the Gureghians provide graduating eighth-grade students with opportunities to attend top-performing high schools in the Greater Philadelphia region.
As the founders of CSMI, LLC, an educational management company, the Gureghians believe that applying basic business management principles to schools and separating the business of operating a school from academics, teachers and administrators are free to focus on what they do best – educate students. That operating philosophy, combined with educational innovations that empower students, is helping to change outcomes for Chester students.
The Gureghian Charitable Foundation is proud of the Chester Community Charter School graduates’ innumerable achievements, and with the Foundation’s assistance, these graduates have attended some of the area’s best high schools. The Gureghians know that these children will grow up to be the future of our great nation, and with a strong educational background, great success will follow them throughout their lives.
Mark Battinieri, Director of Advancement
Mark Battinieri is the Director of Advancement at Chester Community Charter School (CCCS.) In this role Mr. Battinieri oversees the development and implementation of secondary school placement, alumni relations, recruitment/marketing, and fundraising/development. Additionally, he acts as the Assistant Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Gureghian Charitable Foundation. In this role, Mr. Battinieri works directly with the students and families during the scholarship application process and is the liaison between The Gureghian Charitable Foundation and all other outside inquiries.
Mr. Battinieri has been with the CCCS family since 2009. Since then, the high school search and selection program has grown substantially, and as a result, CCCS has become one of the largest feeder schools for some of the region’s most prestigious private schools. Mr. Battinieri is truly dedicated to the families of CCCS who are looking to enhance the educational opportunities of their students upon graduation.