Cristo Rey high school in Minneapolis to break ground May 23
Thursday, February 8, 2007
By Chris Williams, The Catholic Spirit
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School is a step closer to becoming a reality in south Minneapolis. Representatives of the Ryan Companies, Urban Ventures and Cristo Rey will break ground May 23 at Fourth and Clinton streets on a $30 million Jesuit high school and community center — the Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center.
The combined facility will serve inner-city families with lower or limited incomes who cannot afford the average private school tuition.
There are currently 11 Cristo Rey schools across the country. The college-preparatory schools are geared to give students skills to help them succeed in corporate America. Students attend classes four days a week and work one day at a Twin Cities business. The companies who hire them pay for one half of thestudents’ annual high school tuition.
More than 20 businesses have committed to make contributions and investments in the new school and its students.
The local Cristo Rey school and Colin Powell center plan to serve students whose median family incomes are $31,660 or below. Students of color represent 91 percent of the Cristo Rey school population throughout the country.
The two facilities will be incorporated and governed separately, but will work collaboratively.
The Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center is headed by Art Erickson, chief executive officer of Urban Ventures Leadership Foundation of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Urban Ventures is a non-denominational Christian group that runs youth development programs, develops work opportunities and seeks to strengthen families in the Twin Cities area.
Erickson, a former Methodist youth minster, teamed with Jesuit Father David Haschka, president of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis, to create the high school and community center.
The school, slated to open in July 2007, will be the first Jesuit school in the archdiocese. Its maximum capacity will be 500 students.
"Because of an ideological dispute with Archbishop John Ireland in the late 19th century, the Jesuits were not welcomed into this region until after World War II,” Father Haschka said. “Consequently, the Twin Cities is one of the few major metropolitan areas without a Jesuit high school or college."
“Now, with the opening of this school, all that will be behind us, and we will have another historical moment in the Jesuit order,” he said.
Father Haschka and Erickson worked along with Pat Ryan, president of Ryan Companies and a member of Pax Christi in Eden Prairie; Jim Ryan, Ryan’s chief executive officer, who attends St. Therese in Deephaven; and Tim Gray, Ryan’s chief financial officer and also a member of Pax Christi.
The five men will be on hand for the groundbreaking.
The Ryan Companies is a commercial real estate development and property management company. Pat Ryan recalls being introduced to the high school and community center project as his company worked on the redevelopment of the old Sears Warehouse in Minneapolis.
“We were first introduced to it because Father Haschka asked us if we would be able to employ one or two students. After hearing the Cristo Rey story, we signed up for it,” Pat Ryan said.
“This project introduced us to life in the inner city. It introduced us to many of the issues surrounding it,” Ryan said.
Meanwhile, Erickson and Father Haschka came together, and in a short time they created some basic principles around which they are going to be operating the two programs.
The high school will operate from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the center will operate from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“The two programs are synergistic,” Pat Ryan said.
“The Colin Powell and Urban Ventures programs are geared to strengthen the family unit, keep kids off the streets and help them get through school,” Pat Ryan said. “The Cristo Rey High School will provide the education component. It’s a perfect fit.”
Also, Urban Ventures has a great feeder program, he noted.
“Our whole goal is to get kids off the streets, and get them graduated from high school to become productive members of society. We bought into that,” Pat Ryan said.