2016: Investments in Education
Increasing opportunity through finance In the past year, Reinvestment Fund has improved educational facilities for more than 5,300 children.
DURING 2016, REINVESTMENT FUND Chester Charter School for the Arts, INVESTED $35.9 MILLION IN EDUCATION Chester, PA PROJECTS. Children’s Playhouse, Philadelphia, PA Last year, Reinvestment Fund received $18 million from William Penn Foundation and Vanguard Strong Start for Kids ProgramTM Community Concern #13 to continue the Fund for Quality (FFQ) with our partner Public Multi-Purpose Learning Center, Health Management Corporation. Philadelphia, PA
A testament to our initial successes during the pilot round of FFQ, DC International Charter School, over the next five years, the Philadelphia-based program will Washington, DC
continue to support the expansion of high-quality early childhood Green Street Academy, Baltimore, MD education facilities by creating at least 1,800 new childcare seats available to predominately low-income children. Learning Community Charter School, Jersey City, NJ This was also the second year that we were able to offer long-
term loans, made available through the CDFI Bond Guarantee Lee Montessori Public Charter School, Program. We supported two K-12 schools with this long-term Washington, DC capital. Keystone Academy Charter School, We supported nine charter schools with our range of financing Philadelphia, PA products that includes leasehold improvement loans, acquisition and construction loans, energy loans and bridge loans. We also Menlo Park Academy Charter School, financed schools in Ohio and Illinois for the first time. Cleveland, OH
As we celebrate our work together and look forward to the year Noble Network of Charter Schools, ahead, have a closer look at our education investments in 2016. Gary Comer College Prep High School, Chicago, IL
Sheltering Arms, Atlanta, GA
FIRST CHARTER SCHOOL LOAN IN OHIO
Reinvestment Fund led a $6.4 million leverage loan supporting a new facility for Menlo Park Academy Charter School (Menlo) with participation from IFF. Located in Cleveland, Menlo is Ohio’s only tuition-free K-8 community school focused solely on the needs of gifted learners. The project converts a former warehouse and garment factory into a transformative education space in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Ohio and enables the school to meet the demand for gifted services in northeast Ohio. In the 75,000-square- foot facility, Menlo’s enrollment increases from 350 to 700 students. Menlo Park Academy Charter School CDFI BOND GUARANTEE PROGRAM
In 2016, Reinvestment Fund supported two schools with long-term, fully amortizing loans made possible by the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program (BGP). The program offers a consistent financing source for educational institutions with strong operating track records.
Reinvestment Fund is proud to be the recipient of two rounds of BGP awards: $55 million in 2015 and $75 million in 2016. BGP proceeds provide long- term, fixed-rate capital to projects that increase access to critical services in underserved communities across the nation.
CDFI Bond Guarantee Program
JERSEY CITY, NJ Learning Community Charter School
Reinvestment Fund supported long-time borrower Learning Community Charter School (LCCS) with a $4.9 million permanent BGP loan as well as a $500,000 loan to support building repairs. Reinvestment Fund initially financed the school in 2009 through a New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) transaction. The BGP loan refinanced this NMTC debt and is fully amortizing over a 25- year term. Established in 1997 as one of New Jersey’s first charter schools, LCCS was founded by a group of community members dedicated to diversity and excellence in public education. Through in-depth projects that combine a number of skills and subject areas, the school provides opportunities for students to question, experiment, and solve real-world problems. LCCS has grown to be one of the highest performing charter schools in New Jersey and Learning Community serves 585 students in Pre-K through 8th grade. Charter School
CHICAGO, IL Noble Network of Charter Schools, Gary Comer College Prep High School
Reinvestment Fund provided a $7.35 million permanent BGP loan to support the Comer Science and Education Foundation and Noble Network of Charter School’s Gary Comer College Prep High School. The Foundation established the Gary Comer Youth Center in 2006, and the Youth Center has a mission to help students in the neighborhood graduate from high school prepared to pursue college and careers. The Youth Center recognized an opportunity to bring a better high school option for local families and partnered with Noble—a growing network of high-quality charter schools located in Chicago’s communities of greatest need—to achieve this vision. Gary Comer College Prep High School Noble Network of Charter Schools, opened in 2008 as Noble’s first campus on Chicago’s South Side and currently Gary Comer College Prep serves 740 students. High School EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
During 2016 we guided facility expansion planning for nine early childhood education centers which created 428 new, high-quality slots for low-income children through our Fund for Quality (FFQ) program.
Projects supported to date also created over 50 full-time and 11 part-time jobs, with 85% of new expansion seats utilized by low-income families. An estimated 30% of children served belong to a vulnerable population.
Fund for Quality
PHILADELPHIA, PA Community Concern #13 Multi-Purpose Learning Center
Community Concern #13 Multi-Purpose Learning Center (CC#13) is a high- quality childcare provider that has served North Philadelphia since 1969. One hundred percent of children attending the center are low income and eligible for some form of childcare subsidy. CC#13 received grant support from FFQ and a $400,000 direct loan from the Reinvestment Fund to upgrade the entire facility and reconfigure the space to add a Pre-K classroom, increasing capacity from 83 to 103 seats for children ages 0-12. The renovations to the nearly 3,000-square-foot facility included layout changes, bathroom upgrades, a staff lounge, improved storage systems, facade and security improvements.
Community Concern
PHILADELPHIA, PA Children’s Playhouse
In January 2016, Children’s Playhouse (CPH) opened a new childcare facility on Marshall Street in South Philadelphia thanks to technical assistance and capital grant funds made available through FFQ. The 10,000-square-foot building currently has capacity for 72 children who attend toddler, preschool, or after- school programming. Over 60% of attendees qualify for some form of subsidy and 16% belong to a vulnerable population. CPH is now well-positioned for future expansion and looks forward to providing high-quality programming to more low-income children across Philadelphia.
Children’s Playhouse OUR WORK IN ATLANTA The Atlanta metro is home to 5.7 million people; it’s one of the fastest growing regions in the United States, but it also leads the nation in income inequality. Reinvestment Fund is working with local partners to promote equitable development that will include low-income and minority communities in the growing prosperity of the region.
ATLANTA, GA Sheltering Arms
Sheltering Arms is a 128-year-old leader in early childhood education serving Sheltering Arms 3,400 children and their families in 15 high-quality centers in the Atlanta metro. Reinvestment Fund helped finance its new center—a strategic investment for the organization—that builds on an existing educational asset to the community, the DH Stanton Elementary School. The two facilities are adjacent to each other and are working together to ensure their programs are aligned. The new 26,400-square-foot center will serve approximately 200 children annually from six weeks to Pre-K in 14 classrooms.
ATLANTA, GA Childcare Map
With the support of the Richard W. Goldman Family Foundation and JPMorgan Chase, Reinvestment Fund will be bringing Childcare Map to Atlanta. In 2016, we announced funding to conduct our supply and demand analysis for high- quality early childhood education in the Atlanta metro. Reinvestment Fund is assembling a stakeholder group of local providers, regulators, educators, funders and others with a unique interest in and knowledge of the field. A live Atlanta Childcare Data mapping tool is expected to become available in 2017.
LOCATING AND ESTIMATING THE SUPPLY OF CHILD CARE
Reinvestment Fund and PolicyMap have Building on the Childcare Map and FFQ successfully developed Childcare Map initiatives already underway, Reinvestment Philadelphia (childcaremap.org), Childcare Fund intends to work with thoughtful networks Map Newark (newarkchildcaremap.org) and of providers, advocates, funders and business Childcare Map Passaic County (site will be people already tackling this issue in areas across live in early 2017). The interactive mapping the country to develop a new set of tools to tools are based on studies conducted on the expand access to quality education, and guide supply of and demand for child care in each targeted investment strategies that increase the location and will help users identify the quality number of high-quality seats where they are and estimated capacity of childcare centers, critically needed. neighborhood demographics and where high- quality care is most scarce. CHARTER SCHOOL LOANS SUPPORTED BY CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
Our charter school lending program benefits from credit enhancement that has been awarded to Reinvestment Fund from the U.S. Department of Education. We utilize credit enhancement to structure loans that meet the needs of early stage and expanding schools. To date, Reinvestment Fund has supported 51 schools with credit enhanced loans. Credit enhancement continues to be available for eligible charter school projects.
CHESTER, PA Chester Charter School for the Arts
We provided a $3.5 million loan to support construction of a new performing arts facility for Chester Charter School for the Arts (CCSA). This K-12 program has been space constrained in its current facility, and the new building will support enrollment growth from 500 to 650 students and will include amenities for robust arts programming. CCSA’s program combines academic rigor with artistic creativity in a location where 30% of the population lives in poverty. Reinvestment Fund’s financing bridges pledges in a $7 million capital campaign and is part of a larger $31 million project, the majority of which is financed through tax-exempt bonds. Credit enhancement allowed us to offer a bridge loan that enabled the school to forge ahead with construction in a timely manner. Chester Charter School for the Arts
WASHINGTON, DC DC International School
Reinvestment Fund provided a $5.1 million loan to DC International School (DCI) that supported leasehold improvements to a facility in the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Reinvestment Fund’s loan is part of a $55.7 million project, which includes financing from Bank of America, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Building Hope, and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. The project creates a new home for DCI and a third campus for Latin American Montessori Bilingual Charter School. DCI is a middle and high school created by a collaboration of five charter schools that each operate a bilingual program and were seeking a school where students could continue language immersion education. Credit enhancement allowed our financing to be subordinate to Bank of America and to have an extended interest-only DC International Charter School period as DCI grows in the facility. WASHINGTON, DC Lee Montessori Public Charter School and Washington Leadership Academy Public Charter School
We led a $15.75 million loan, with participation from Low Income Investment Fund and Capital Impact Partners, for two innovative, early stage schools. Lee Montessori Public Charter School (Lee) opened in 2014 and will grow to serve 290 students in Pre-K to 6th grade in multi-age classrooms. Washington Leadership Academy Public Charter School (WLA) is a college prep, technology- focused high school that opened in 2016 and will grow to 400 students in 9-12th grades. The loan supported acquisition and renovation of the former St. Paul Catholic seminary to house Lee and WLA as well as various nonprofit offices. An affiliate of nonprofit developer, Building Hope, serves as borrower and landlord. Credit enhancement allowed Reinvestment Fund to offer flexible terms and Lee Montessori and accommodate three rounds of renovations that will take place over the next Washington Leadership three summers.
CLEAN ENERGY LOANS FOR SCHOOLS Our clean energy loans help reduce energy costs in both new construction and existing buildings. Clean energy loans are available for projects located across Pennsylvania and in Baltimore, MD.
In 2016, Reinvestment Fund provided $1.7 In 2016, Green Street Academy earned LEED million for energy efficiency renovations that Platinum certification. The 111,000 square foot were part of a larger acquisition/construction facility ranks in the top 4% of schools worldwide financing forKeystone Academy Charter School. and achieved certification for sustainable site The new 65,000-square-foot building, which development, water savings, energy efficiency, includes renovation of a historic school site plus material selection and indoor environmental new construction of an addition, allowed this quality. The facility was built in 1925 and Philadelphia school to expand by 100 students. renovated in 2015. Reinvestment Fund’s energy Energy loans supported the new HVAC system, loan funds supported the renovation to this insulation, windows and lighting, all of which Baltimore school building. should reduce the facility’s operational expense.
Keystone Academy Charter School Green Street Academy OUR COMMITMENT Reinvestment Fund’s borrowers have the advantage of working with our experienced team.
We work closely with our borrowers every step of the way, offering guidance and expertise to make your projects successful.
See more of our success stories at: Reinvestment.com/success-stories
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON EDUCATION FINANCE:
Bevin Parker-Cerkez Molly Melloh Director, Early Childhood Education Director, K-12 Education
[email protected] [email protected]
215.574.5826 215.574.5892
Ashley Motta Program Coordinator, Fund for Quality
215.574.5821
REINVESTMENT FUND is a catalyst for change in low-income communities. We integrate data, policy and strategic investments to improve the quality of life in low-income neighborhoods.
PHILADELPHIA BALTIMORE www.reinvestment.com 1700 Market Street, 19th floor 1707 North Charles Street, Suite 200B www.policymap.com Philadelphia, PA 19103 Baltimore, MD 21201 TEL 215.574.5800 FAX 215.574.5900 TEL 410.783.1110
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Publication date March 22, 2017 10:29 AM Reinvestment Fund is an equal opportunity provider.