RISE UP. POWER FORWARD.
ONLY 41% OF STUDENTS IN THE
CHESTER-UPLAND DISTRICT
ARE EXPECTED TO GRADUATE
A CLOSER LOOK
Residents of Chester have a 1 in 37 chance of being a victim of a violent crime.
Chester, PA has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the country
Chester, Reading, Lancaster and Philadelphia ranked in the top eight in law enforcement investment, but remains among the highest in rates of crime
Our mission is to change lives by empowering today's youth to take initiative on their path to success. We seek to promote the importance of academics, socioeconomic awareness, self-confidence and community enrichment. We believe that a community in action helps to alleviate inaction in order to gain positive traction on the road ahead.
The Ray Strickland Foundation is a Pennsylvania-based organization geared toward enriching the lives of our youth through scholarships, mentoring, and other academic training-based programs. We help to equip these 21st century leaders-in-training with essential resources to succeed. We hope to continue to grow our extended community network of heroes who sacrifice their time and efforts toward fundraising, community partnerships, volunteerism, field trips, counseling and more. We serve as the bridge to ensure that the road to cultivation leads to opportunity and prosperity for our youth, as well as for the preservation of our communities.
Ray Strickland, founder of the Ray Strickland Foundation, was born and raised in Chester, PA - a city just 20 miles southwest of Philadelphia plagued with crime, poverty, and scarce resources. Against all odds, Strickland's talents and motivation helped propel him into a high school and college basketball star. He would become a member of the 2000 state championship Clippers team, as well as an All American at Alvernia University. After receiving his Bachelor's Degree in 2004 from Alvernia, Strickland was able to showcase his skills on the court as a professional basketball player over in Europe, where he would play for five years .
After his professional basketball career,he would go on to earn his Master's Degree in Counseling in 2010 from Wilmington University. Thereafter, Strickland made it his mission to pay-it-forward to children in the community plagued with some of the very same obstacles that was once stacked against him. For this reason, he finds it paramount for our future leaders of tomorrow - to rise up and power forward.
ABOUT RSF
OUR FOUNDER
