Drexel Foundation for Educational Excellence, Inc.

The Drexel Foundation for Educational Excellence, Inc. was the vision of Thomas V. Barnes, two-term mayor of the city of Gary, Indiana, small business owner, and lay ministry leader of his church. Inspired by the memory of the superior education, both public and private, which Gary once offered its children, Atty. Barnes brought together a group of committed citizens, the Vision Team, to organize for the maintenance or resurgence of quality education in the city of Gary, Indiana. Several months of intense searching and planning gave birth to the Drexel Foundation, incorporated as a 501(c)3 agency in 2001. The life of St. Katharine Drexel, multimillionaire who gave up all to promote social justice through education of African American and Native American peoples, prompted the name of the Foundation.