Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Prep

History

The first Cristo Rey school was founded in 1996 to serve the Hispanic community on the southwest side of Chicago. In order to make a college preparatory education affordable and sustainable, founding members conceptualized the Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP) model, in which students underwrite up to 60% of the cost of their education by working five days per month at an entry-level position for a corporation or nonprofit agency. Through strong partnerships with area businesses, this unique model creates a supportive atmosphere geared toward helping students reach and succeed in post-secondary education.

As supported by 25+ years of history across a network of nearly 40 schools, the Cristo Rey impact speaks for itself: Cristo Rey schools cultivate college-educated, work-experienced young people to become leaders in their community. What started out as a trial school in Chicago has become one of the most successful models of educational innovation in the United States.

In 2018, Cristo Rey Fort Worth (CRFW) opened its doors to its first cohort of freshmen students and has added a new class of freshmen each year. In June 2022, we completed our fourth operational year, with 206 students enrolled across all four grades and our first graduating class of seniors, 100% of whom were accepted to college.

The Need in Fort Worth

Fort Worth's economically disadvantaged young people are in urgent need of resources and opportunities to overcome barriers that prevent them from succeeding academically and attending college. CRFW primarily serves students of color, and all from families whose incomes place them near or below the poverty line. 

In Fort Worth, nearly one in six (16.6%) residents live below the federal poverty line, exceeding the national average of 11.8%.  This has a profoundly devastating effect on the area's economically disadvantaged young people: the Texas Education Agency (2020) reports that children categorized as "economically disadvantaged" drop out of high school at a rate 35% higher than the average. Jobs that required only a high school education a decade ago now require a bachelor's degree, reinforcing the cycle of poverty and complicating these young people's economic mobility further.

Accessing a university education is also more difficult for first-generation college students, many of whom come from families of limited economic means.  For example, nearly two-thirds of children in Fort Worth live in a household headed by someone without a college degree, and almost one in five (18%) lives in a household by an adult without a high school diploma (Kids Count, 2019).

Racial disparities remain deeply entrenched in attrition rates as well: in the most recent data year recorded, 2019-2020, Texas public schools are still losing one in four Black and Latino students to attrition (IDRA, 22021).  The need for high schools like CRFW - which primarily serve students of color and concert all academic and wraparound efforts towards graduation - has never been greater.