Passersby can be forgiven for mistaking Friendship Aspire Academy for a place of worship: One of the elementary school’s main buildings is actually a repurposed church, a towering, ‘60s-era cast concrete sanctuary complete with a pipe organ tucked into an old choir loft. The architecture suits the tiny elementary school on South Hazel Street, which has taken on a kind of spiritual significance for families since it opened six years ago. The first of seven charter schools here either taken over or built from the ground up by the Washington,...

Born and raised in this once-vibrant manufacturing hub along the Arkansas River, Sederick Rice likens his troubled hometown to a popular blues song — “You’ve Got to Hurt Before You Heal.” Pine Bluff has seen more than its share of pain in recent years. With the 2020 U.S. Census, the community about 40 miles southeast of Little Rock earned the unwelcome distinction of being the fastest-shrinking city in the U.S., losing over 12% of its population in a decade. At the time, its school district was under state control, deemed...