Giving Compass' Take:

• In this Heritage Foundation story, Jude Schwalbach argues that public charter schools offer inner city students the opportunity to escape inequality and intergenerational poverty.

• Which will have the greater positive impact for inner city children: Establishing strong charter schools or improving existing public schools? Does it matter which strategy we employ?

• To learn about four charter school founders and their inspiring stories, click here.

Butler College Prep, a top-rated charter school on the South Side of Chicago, provides an atmosphere that reflects and engages the local community.

The founder and principal, Christopher Goins, built his school community by intentionally hiring teachers from Historically Black Colleges so students would have relatable role models.

“If [students] don’t love the school and enjoy learning, then they are not going to learn. And it goes back to what research states,” Goins, noting the importance of a tailor-made education, told Ebony magazine. “Those of us who grew up black know that we respond to a supportive family-like environment, a place that understands who we are and appreciates who we are.”

Butler College Prep is just one example of successful public charter schools that operate with less funding and greater autonomy.

Instead of being trapped by their ZIP codes, the advent of charter schools meant that low-income parents were no longer compelled by the government to send their children to assigned district schools. Parents could vote with their feet for the first time.

For many low-income families who live in America’s inner cities, a feeling of helplessness is entrenched by high crime rates, gang activity, and cycles of intergenerational poverty. So, families are eager for the chance to choose their children’s schools.

Read the full article about charter schools by Jude Schwalbach at The Heritage Foundation.