Cedar Riverside Community School
School History
The proposal for a charter school in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood grew
from the recent history of neighborhood development. A large scale housing
development project in much of the neighborhood brought a large population
of families with young children to the neighborhood, beginning in 1986.
As many of the units in this development were scheduled for Section Eight
Housing, the number of children remained large in the immediate future.
Approximately half the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood resides in the Riverside
Plaza Housing Project; and the large number of Section Eight units guaranteed
a continued population of children.
The dramatic increase in housing for families with children was followed by community activity to provide services for the children. In 1989, the West Bank Community Development Corporation (CDC) developed a network of day-care houses, using community resources in housing opportunities to respond to the needs of the families. Local service agencies, the Currie Center and the People’s Center, had also increased their programming for children.
Parents and school teachers in the community began discussing the need
for a local school in the winter of 1991. In May of 1991, the West Bank
CDC, continued its history of supporting family services, agreed to act
as the fiscal agent for the proposed school. With CDC backing, a series
of community meetings had been held to access the needs of neighborhood
families in regards to a school, and had to plan a proposal.