Brophy Prep Establishes Debt-Forgiveness Initiative for Low-Income Maricopa County Residents

3/14/2024

The Brophy College Preparatory community recently explored the impact of debt on the dignity of people and communities through the keynotes, workshops, prayer service and other events of its annual Summit on Human Dignity, held February 26 - March 7. Halfway through the two-week Summit, Governor Katie Hobbs announced a partnership with RIP Medical Debt to use $30 million of COVID-19 relief funds to forgive $2 billion of medical debt for 1 million Arizonans.

The Brophy community was excited to hear of the governor’s plan because, one week earlier, Brophy unveiled its own debt forgiveness initiative, the Bronco Jubilee, for people across Maricopa County and surrounding areas in partnership with ForgiveCo. At the Summit’s opening keynote address, Craig Antico, co-founder of RIP Medical Debt and the co-founder and chief executive officer of ForgiveCo, announced that ForgiveCo was working with Brophy to raise enough money to forgive at least $1 million of debts of necessity for lower-income individuals and families concentrated around the Maricopa County area. While Brophy does not have the same funding levels as the state of Arizona, this amount of debt forgiveness by a single school represents a substantial commitment to the dignity, wellbeing and financial security of those members of our local society most marginalized by debt, which tends to accumulate and hold back people disproportionately along socioeconomic and racial lines.

The "Bronco Jubilee" namesake was selected in honor of the biblical year of Jubilee in which God called upon the ancient Hebrews to cancel all debts every 50 years; it also denotes both Brophy's annual Summit on Human Dignity (with this year's theme focused on debt) and the school's annual Lenten Drive, through which students participate in almsgiving by donating money in their classrooms or online. With the generosity of our students, parents, educators and staff, paired with that of Antico, Brophy is proud to announce that the school will forgive at least $1 million of debt for low-income people in our region and continue to increase the school's total as donations are collected from our school community through Easter.

The Brophy community is encouraged the governor has joined its efforts to erase debt as a factor, holding back those whose circumstances have left them stuck in financial distress. The Brophy Community prays that school efforts, combined with those of the state of Arizona, can contribute to a city, county and state committed to the dignity and wellbeing of all its members.