Parents and Children Together, PACT, is a model service learning program created by Harcum College and the School District of Philadelphia. This intergenerational literacy program is changing the lives of parents and children in Philadelphia's neediest neighborhoods. Without the PACT Program, at-risk children would not receive the one-on-one tutoring that that helps make the difference between failure and success in their schooling.

PACT parents are recruited from populations traditionally under-represented in higher education. Parents are enrolled at Harcum in the PACT Certificate Program where classes are taught on-site in Philadelphia's Title I elementary schools. In the two-semester program, participants earn twelve college credits in Education 103 and 104 at no cost to them. This innovative, interdisciplinary curriculum design brings together instruction in teaching reading skills, children's literature, and human development, with service learning through tutoring. Techniques learned in class are reinforced through sixty hours of volunteer tutoring in the parents' neighborhood schools. This tutoring experience is critical in building the parents' literacy skills and self esteem. Students receive additional personal support from the PACT counselor who meets with each student individually.

The high quality and far-reaching impact of the Harcum College PACT program has been recognized at the regional, state, national, and international levels. The program received the prestigious Points of Light Foundation President's Service Award at the President's Summit for America's Future in Philadelphia in 1997. The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Corporation on National and Community Service have lauded PACT as a model service learning program.