HOPE Awarded $8 Million to Support Charter School Facilities

HOPE recently financed the McDonogh 42 Charter School in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded an $8 million grant to Hope Enterprise Corporation to establish the HOPE Charter School Facilities Fund, which will support financing for the renovation and construction of high-quality charter school facilities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Western Tennessee.

The charter school movement has been sweeping the Mid South over the last few years.  Between the 2009-2010 school year and the 2013-14 school year, the total number of charter schools in AR, LA, MS and TN increased by 77%.  As the number of charter schools in the region expands, financing adequate and affordable facilities is a significant challenge.

The HOPE Charter School Facilities Fund will leverage more than $70 million in private and other non-federal funding for the renovation, construction, and permanent financing of charter school facilities.  The types of financing supported will include New Markets Tax Credit financing, leasehold improvement loans, senior loans, and subordinate loans.  The Fund will place a priority on 1) Schools in areas with a large proportion of schools identified for improvement, corrective action or restructuring under No Child Left Behind; 2) Schools in areas with a large proportion of students who perform below proficient on state academic assessments; and 3) Schools in communities with large proportions of students from low-income families.

“Helping communities thrive is at the heart of HOPE’s mission,” said HOPE CEO Bill Bynum.  “The Charter School Facilities Fund furthers this by ensuring that children in distressed communities have access to quality education in a 21st-century school facility.  We will complement these resources by providing access to affordable mortgages and other banking services in the surrounding neighborhoods.”   The grant was made under the Department of Education’s Credit Enhancement for Charter Schools Facilities Program, which makes awards on a competitive basis to applicants for targeting funds to areas with great needs.