Cristo Rey Dallas Academic Center

ACADEMICS and COLLEGE GUIDANCE: Each year, CRD serves more than 400 students, 99% of whom are students of color and 94% of whom have family incomes within 250% of the federal poverty line. While most students join CRD performing below grade level in reading and math, our intensive academic support spurs remarkable progress. In addition to tutoring and mentoring opportunities, CRD students gain access to a wide array of AP courses, fine arts programming, and state-of-the-art STEM labs, among many other resources. In this thriving academic environment, students who were once off-course for success make incredible gains in college readiness. CRD families are enthusiastically supportive, but they often lack the resources and experience to help their children navigate the complex college admissions process. To ensure our students can not only access and afford higher education, but thrive once admitted and enrolled, CRD's college guidance department provides robust support that far exceeds that found in a typical high school. Our robust college guidance program is embedded into the school-day curriculum as a dedicated course that includes individualized career discovery, test preparation, admission and financial aid application assistance, and college campus visits for students across all four years. These activities lead our young men and women and their families to a deeper understanding of their individual talents, characteristic learning styles, academic interests, and career goals so they can find "right-fit" schools. With this support, 100% of our seniors are accepted to college each year. Because college persistence is disproportionately lower for the demographic we serve, a dedicated Alumni Counselor supports our graduates throughout their college journeys. CORPORATE WORK STUDY: Cristo Rey's innovative Corporate Work Study Program complements the school's academic rigor, providing students with professional skill building and career exploration in a supportive environment. All Cristo Rey Dallas students work at salaried positions five days per month at more than 170 Dallas companies and nonprofits, including AT&T, Children's Health, Deloitte, the Dallas Holocaust Museum, and many others; their academic schedules are structured so that they do not miss classes. Through the program, students explore industries including finance, law, medicine, and engineering-as well as many others-while learning valuable hard and soft skills and building a network of connections to champion their journeys. Crucially, employer-paid fees from this program annually underwrite 60% of the school's operating expenses and allow us to provide a college preparatory education for only $100/month in family tuition. For first-generation college students, as ours will be, the professional experience and career inspiration that the program provides are critical to helping students visualize themselves as belonging in high-value career paths. And CRD's corporate job partners continually voice their enthusiasm for the opportunity to cultivate a diverse pipeline of 21st century talent. In 2021-2022, we continued to add new job partners, including Sewell Automotive Companies, Vistra Corp, Foley & Lardner LLP, Sun Holdings, Inc., and Origin Bank. Our job partners and students also embraced the growth of remote co-working across all industry sectors, with approximately 20 students utilizing the school's exciting new Cityplace Tower space for remote CWSP work each day. Annually, 97%+ of job partners rate their students as meeting or exceeding their expectations, and they rave about the value their student workers provide: -"Kristina should be recognized every day. She is intelligent, hardworking, and takes initiative. A specific recognition for Kristina is that she assisted Alicia Allred in a project for our CEO." -"Partnering with the Cristo Rey student program has been a great resource for our marketing efforts and external communications. Each year the students have been able to bring a fresh perspective to our team, detailed market research, and offer new insights on how social media can be further utilized to reach our target audience." -"On Maliha's second day of work, we hosted all of our executives across the nation in our office. She was immediately ready to jump in and was a huge help!!! She is so detail oriented and we feel like everything we give her is done thoroughly. We can trust her with so much more than we could have ever hoped for. She is a joy to work with, and she is always taking the lead to look for more opportunities to help out!" MENTAL HEALTH: Our two full-time licensed mental health counselors, distinct from the college guidance department, provide counseling to all students, as well as their families, who have a need at no cost. Each year, our counselors provide 1,000+ clinical service hours, and approximately 70% of students elect to participate in at least one counseling session. During their freshman year, all students also participate in a ten-session social emotional learning course, where they address topics in anxiety, depression, stress-management, and more in an effort to de-stigmatize mental healthcare and maximize their connection with available resources. The department also carries out a robust awareness and advocacy program, including Suicide Prevention Week, Bullying Prevention Month, Pet Therapy Days, and Teen Dating Violence Awareness Week. In 2021, CRD's mental health team launched a partnership with Hope Squad, which seeks to reduce self-destructive behavior and youth suicide by training, building, and creating change in schools and communities. Cristo Rey Dallas students, like so many students today, have a wide range of increasing mental health needs, including histories of trauma, anxiety, and depression. Added to this, half of all chronic mental illness begins in high school-by age fourteen-and 64% of students who stop attending college do so for mental health-related reasons (US Surgeon General, NAMI). As such, we firmly believe in the asset provided by comprehensive mental healthcare to children in this vulnerable, formative stage of life. Mental health awareness, prevention, and counseling programs like CRD's are shown to help prevent a range of negative experiences for young adults, including drug use and violence (Adolescent and School Health, CDC 2021). What's more, building strong bonds and relationships with adults and friends at school, at home, and in the community provides youth with a sense of connectedness which equips them with the tools for success in their adult lives. One student volunteered to share the impact of their experience: "For me, counseling has been a great help, not only for my mental health but to also provide a comfortable environment for me to talk about my issues. Even if I don't go every day, the days that I do go really help me to think and calm down for the day."