Robert Golden, a Fresno native and former NFL team captain who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs, grew up a mile and a half from where Golden Charter Academy now stands. Inspired by the success of a local charter high school, he founded the school he wished he had attended as a child.

Golden Charter Academy offers an innovative curriculum through its partnership with the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. Students visit the zoo each week with hands-on projects that enrich their studies in science, math and language arts. The school sits in a severely distressed area of Fresno and serves a student population that is 87% low-income, 56% Black and 33% Latino. A lengthy waitlist suggests the model is working.

Self-Help provided $8.5 million in financing to fund construction of a permanent campus directly adjacent to the zoo. The new facility is projected to expand enrollment by more than 20% and will create space for adding seventh and eighth grades in time for the 2026-27 school year. The financing is part of a $25 million project utilizing New Markets Tax Credits.

The new campus is designed not just as a school but as a community hub, offering family resource programs, a farmers market with fresh produce and job-search support for parents. Under Golden’s leadership and that of founding principal Mandy Breuer, recent testing shows reading and math proficiency rates climbing. The school is also expanding its curriculum to include civic action projects to teach students the value of community engagement.