At Forbes, Daniel R. Porterfield writes about the success of the Cristo Rey Network of Jesuit schools:

What was brand new about Cristo Rey, however, was the Jesuits’ idea for financing the enterprise—by recruiting businesses all across Chicago to pay a flat fee to the school in exchange for having on-site one student-worker per day drawn from a well-supervised four-person work team.
 

No one knew if this would work, but when the employers and students took to it, a new school-based anti-poverty program was born.

Cristo Rey’s dedicated teachers delivered a rigorous curriculum necessary for college success.

 

Matt Emerson is the author of Why Faith? A Journey of Discovery (Paulist Press, 2016). His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including America and The Wall Street Journal.