Rep. Fattah given award for service

For more than 15 years, Chaka Fattah has focused his energy on city schools -- working to increase funding, raising scholarship money and even implementing a summer reading program. And yesterday morning, a school reciprocated his efforts as Penn's Fels Center of Government gave the Pennsylvania congressman the first ever Samuel S. Fels Award for Alumni Achievement. The goal of the award, meant to honor distinguished leadership and public service accomplishments, fit Fattah perfectly, according to Fels Center Director Lawrence Sherman, who presented the award. "I can think of no more fitting person to welcome here today," Sherman said, listing several of Fattah's accomplishments in the areas of education and urban vitality -- including authoring provisions to the 1998 Higher Education Act to widen eligibility for Pell Grants. "Sam Fels would be proud," Sherman said. Fattah, who has served as a U.S. congressman since 1995, also served in both the Pennsylvania House and Senate. He also held several senior positions in Philadelphia government. The Democrat graduated from the Wharton School and the Fels School of State and Local Government in 1986. Addressing the dozen or so audience members in attendance, Fattah -- who serves on both the early childhood and post-secondary education Congress subcommittees -- spoke for about a half-hour on his accomplishments improving education. He detailed one tutoring initiative, entitled Gear Up, that targets students at the middle school level and continues for six years. Students involved in the program receive financial aid for college. "We hope that there will be a greater expectation for them to go to college," Fattah said. "That's a success story." Fattah then spoke about his work on the $35 million College Completion Grant program, which is meant to ensure that students finish all four years of college. The congressman also spoke about his desire to equalize school spending and the legislation he is working on that would "require states like Pennsylvania to equalize their school financial systems." Fattah explained that the move would be "the most important thing I could do in Congress," adding that the current financial systems are unconstitutional. At the end of his talk, Fattah took questions about politics in general from the mostly adult audience members.

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