The Wall Street Journal

April 29, 2005

GIVING BACK / By Elizabeth Bernstein

Cosby Kids

A NEW GENERATION of Cosby kids is getting a boost from Camille Cosby -- thanks to a $2 million gift she's given to an East Baltimore high school for disenfranchised students.

Mrs. Cosby, the wife of entertainer Bill Cosby, is endowing 16 scholarships at St. Frances Academy, where 72% of the students live below the poverty line.  The academy is run by an order of nuns that operated an elementary school Mrs. Cosby attended.  As a young student, Mrs. Cosby met Sister Mary Alice Chineworth, who went on to become the order's superior general.  Last year, Sister Mary Alice asked Mrs. Cosby to speak at the Oblate Sisters' 175th anniversary -- and for this gift.

"I am a product of their system, so I know how much the nuns put into their days with these young people," says Mrs. Cosby, who researched the school's graduation rate before making the contribution.  (It's 90%.)  St. Frances is hoping to raise $5 million to support scholarships for 40 students.