Cristo Rey Feasibility Study Process >

General Information  
Every Cristo Rey Network® school begins with a thorough assessment of need and interest in the community to be served. The Cristo Rey Network® Board of Directors gives permission to a religious congregation, diocese or lay group to conduct a feasibility study after a representative of the Cristo Rey Network® visits a potential site and conducts a preliminary analysis of the viability of a successful school. Groups interested in conducting a study must complete the application indicated below and submit it to the Cristo Rey Network® for approval.  Approval to conduct a study allows local organizers access to the password-protected portion of this website, access to certain Network trainings and conferences, and the support and resources of the Network’s central office staff, which has experience with more than 30 feasibility studies, beginning with the first one conducted by the Jesuits in Chicago in 1993. It is expected that if a school is started, it will become a member of the Cristo Rey Network and follow the Network's Mission Effectiveness Standards. The Network only reviews proposals from metropolitan areas with a population greater than 750,000 people.

The Cristo Rey Network® works with religious congregations and dioceses examining the feasibility of sponsoring a school.  Cristo Rey studies are not to be done by professional consulting firms, but by community organizers and laypeople associated with the study sponsor as well as religious from the congregation or diocese sponsoring the study. The Cristo Rey Network® staff provides guidance to the religious sponsor during the study. The feasibility study coordinator must also work with a local advisory committee of community, church, business and education leaders who can act as a "sounding board" as the study progresses.  

Application
Feasibility Study proposals should be sent to Jeff Thielman, Cristo Rey Network, 106A Kenny Cottle, 885 Centre Street, Newton, MA 02459 or Thielman@bc.edu (electronic submissions are encouraged) and must include the following:  

• Background information on the community to be served
• Information from Dun & Bradstreet or another source on the number of firms employing 100 or more people (likely job sponsors for the Corporate Work Study program) within 30 minutes of the target area.
• Indication from a local attorney that the corporate work study program complies with state laws.
• Information on the potential grantee's visit to a Cristo Rey school: impressions, applicability to your community, and reaction to the visit.
• Timeline and Methodology for research
• List of potential advisory committee members with their affiliation
• Budget for the project
• Background information on the sponsor of a study. The sponsoring organization must be either a religious congregation or a diocese
• 501(c) (3) documentation for the sponsoring group
• Letter endorsing the study from the religious superior or local bishop
  

Report Guidelines
The following information must be included in a feasibility study and incorporated into a final report:  

• Description of the areas to be served and target population for a potential school.
• How many high school-aged young people are there in the neighborhoods to be served? What are the trends for the future? Is the number of children increasing or declining?
• Are the needs for a school greater at the K-5 level or the 9-12 level? Where is the need the greatest?
• What is the gang and drug turf situation in the neighborhood? How dangerous is the area? How much crime is there in the community?
• What are the income levels of the local community? Are income levels rising? Declining?
• Analysis of both public and private/Catholic schools that are currently serving the target population. What is their enrollment? How are these schools performing? Are they meeting the needs of the target population? Why or why not? What is the drop out and college placement rates of local schools?
• A summary of conversations with local Catholic school leaders. Are these schools meeting the needs of the target population? What is their enrollment? What effect will a new school have on local Catholic schools?
• The person conducting the feasibility study should be in touch with the local Office of Catholic Education (OCE) to assess the support for a new school. The results of these conversations should be described in the feasibility study.
• What community organizations are active in the area to be served by the school? Who are their leaders? What is their reaction to the possibility of a new school in their community? The feasibility study coordinator should meet with and interview all of the important community groups in the area to be served by the school including directors of after school programs, parish priests, teen centers, boys/girls clubs, and any other organization that may serve youth and families in the neighborhood.
• Evaluation of community interest in a new school. Are members of the community asking for an alternative educational program? Why? It is critical that the study coordinator and her/his colleagues know and understand the local community before a Cristo Rey model school opens.
• What could parent involvement look like in a future school? How might potential parents show their commitment to the new school? Would parents support a school with a mandatory work-study program? Is Catholic education important to parents? The feasibility study coordinator must conduct a minimum of 100 interviews/surveys/focus groups with potential parents to learn their hopes and desires for a future school.
• Evaluation of potential student interest in a future school. The feasibility study coordinator must conduct a minimum of 300 interviews/surveys/focus groups with potential students to ascertain their academic and social needs.
• Are there enough jobs to support a school with at least 400 students? Are there 100 entry-level clerical jobs in the area? The feasibility study team must meet with at least 40 prospective sponsors and secure written commitments (known as "letters of intent") from at least 25 in order to be considered for provisional membership by the CRN Board of Directors.
• Please identify potential sites for a new school. What has to be done to upgrade the infrastructure of a potential site? Would a new facility have to be built? What is the estimated cost of an upgrade or of construction of a new building?
• Who will sponsor or "own" the school? What involvement will a religious order or the local diocese have with the school? The final report must contain a plan of how the school will be governed: by a religious congregation, an independent board, in conjunction with the local diocese/archdiocese, or by another educational institution such as a university sponsored by the sponsoring religious congregation.
• Where will the financial resources come from to start the school? Who are potential Board members? What foundations and individuals might be interested in helping with the initial financing of this new school? The final report must include a detailed three-year operating and capital budget and business plan for the future school.
• What is the timetable for opening the school? What needs to be done, when and by whom in order to launch a Cristo Rey high school?

 Next Steps: Provisional Membership in the Cristo Rey Network
Completed feasibility studies are to be sent to Jeff Thielman at the address indicated above. If the local organizers and local Church feel that a school is feasible, the religious sponsor or other entity that will own the school should apply for provisional membership in the Cristo Rey Network. In addition to the completed feasibility study report, the application must include:

• Written summary indicating how the religious sponsor or other entitiy that will own the school intends to follow each of the ten mission effectiveness standards
• Plan for the proposed school's sponsorship and governance.
• Letters from the local Bishop and from the superior of the group sponsoring the school indicating their support for the new school.
• Three-year operating budget for the school (may be included in the appendix of the study or given as a separate document)

The Board of the Cristo Rey Network® will review the completed study and start-up operating grant application. Representatives of the Network may meet with the sponsoring organization to learn more about the planned school before the Board makes a final decision.

For further information on the grant making and application process, please contact Jeff Thielman at 617.244.8512 or by e-mail at Thielman@bc.edu.