Education

Omaha Early Learning Center – Gateway Project

May 6, 2015 by

Inspired by the Educare Learning Network, the Omaha Early Learning Centers (“OELC”) provide early childhood education programming to the most needy children in Omaha – a population that has grown significantly over the past decade. In the ten years ending in 2011, the Midwest saw a 40% increase in childhood poverty, the greatest such increase in the US. Studies have shown that children living in poverty start school 2-3 years behind their peers in terms a educational development, and are seven times less likely to graduate high school. Furthermore, a November, 2009 study concluded that every dollar spent on early childhood education equates to a 7-10% rate of return: poverty-stricken children that enroll in early childhood development programs are better prepared when they enter the school, more likely to graduate from high school, more likely to earn a higher wage, and are less likely to resort to public aid, or turn to crime.

In January 2014, Congress appropriated $500M to expand the number and quality of early learning opportunities for infants and toddlers through the Early Head Start – Child Care Partnerships grant program. OELC, in partnership with the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, found itself in a unique position to combat Omaha’s alarming rise in poverty by leveraging these Federal dollars into new early childhood programming. That program needed a home, though, so in mid-2014, OELC engaged Crescent Growth Capital to facilitate the NMTC-financing for two new early childhood development facilities in Omaha.

In May 2015, OELC, the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and CGC closed on a stacked $10.26M State/$3M Federal NMTC financing to construct the Gateway ELC, utilizing NMTC allocation provided by Enhanced Capital. The new 16-classroom facility will include a full kitchen and multi-purpose room, that will serve up to 96 infants and toddlers, and 68 pre-kindergarten students. The project is anticipated to create 38 full time jobs, and an additional 10 jobs for contracted service providers. Using the Educare model as its inspiration, the Gateway center will focus enrollment on the most impoverished children first, thereby maximizing its impact on those most in need of help.

Ursuline Academy – Fitness and Wellness Center

October 31, 2014 by

Ursuline Academy in New Orleans was founded in 1727, nine years after the city’s establishment. It is both the oldest continuously-operating school for girls and the oldest Catholic School in the United States. For 284 years, Ursuline Academy’s core values have rested upon consistent support for the advancement of women in society, regardless of their family’s station. This conviction has manifested itself repeatedly, and has included through the years a steadfast commitment to the education of African Americans and Native Americans, and an early recognition of the importance of sheltering battered women, among other groundbreaking stances.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina threatened to extinguish this landmark institution. Floodwaters surged onto Ursuline’s State Street campus, and gale force winds tore holes in the roofs of the school’s historic buildings. Two years of consultations within the Ursuline community produced a compelling roadmap for institutional recovery. A key component of the school’s recovery plan was the construction of a multi-purpose fitness/wellness center. Notably, the Wellness Center was not intended to help Ursuline students alone; it was designed to serve the broader local community by promoting health, wellness, fitness, and good nutrition. The Fitness & Wellness Center’s design provided for the historic rehabilitation of the school’s circa 1935 gymnasium, an adaptive re-use embodying the highest aspirations of the green building movement – as there is no greener building than a re-used building. A new addition was also prescribed, with architecture that complemented but did not imitate that of the historic Ursuline campus.

Following upon its success structuring the financing for Ursuline’s Early Childhood Learning Center, Crescent Growth Capital was retained to arrange a dual New Markets Tax Credit/state historic tax credit financing. In October of 2011, CGC closed on a $5.5 million NMTC financing, permitting the start of construction. Authoring the state historic preservation certification applications for the project, CGC qualified the project for state historic tax credits, resulting in nearly $2.2 million in project costs being deemed Qualified Rehabilitation Expenses. Furthermore, CGC’s Part 2 application so effectively communicated the design of project architects Waggonner & Ball that no conditions were attached to the Part 2 approval issued by the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation. In October of 2014, CGC completed its historic tax credit arranger services by accomplishing the monetization of the state historic tax credits on behalf of Ursuline Academy.

In the final analysis, Ursuline Academy received a total subsidy of over $1 million on their $6 million project.

Educare of Lincoln

October 21, 2014 by

Educare is a research-based program that prepares young, at risk children for school; a specially-designed place that nurtures early learning and sends a bold message about the value of investing in the first five years; an innovative partnership between the public and private sectors to create a more efficient, more effective early learning program; and a compelling platform to drive change among policymakers, business leaders and early childhood providers by showing what quality early learning looks like.

Educare of Lincoln opened in February of 2013 with 100 students and 35 staff. Educare of Lincoln represents a unique public-private collaboration among several community partners, including: Lincoln Public Schools, Community Action Partnership of Lancaster and Saunders Counties, the University of Nebraska, the University of Nebraska Foundation, and the Buffett Early Childhood Fund. In the typical Educare model, private funds build the facility and public funds are braided to support operations.

As with every Educare Early Childhood Learning Center, Educare of Lincoln specifically targets the most impoverished children first. By providing crucial early childhood development to the most needy children, and developing a culture of parental involvement, Educare’s model is set up to affect lasting change in the lives of Lincoln’s most at-risk children.

In October, 2014, Educare of Lincoln, Buffett Early Childhood Fund and Crescent Growth Capital closed on a $10MM State QEI. Using Nebraska NMTC allocations provided by Enhanced Capital Partners and Stonehenge Capital, the financing will provide nearly $1MM of net NMTC subsidy to the existing operations. This subsidy will allow Educare to double its capacity to 191 students and increase employment to 50-60 full-time staff, putting the program in position to positively impact the lives of Lincoln’s poorest families for years to come.

Tulane University – Devlin Fieldhouse

October 15, 2014 by

Constructed in 1933, partially with funds earned by Tulane University’s football team in its 1932 appearance in the Rose Bowl, Devlin Fieldhouse is the 9th-oldest continuously active basketball venue in the United States. In 2012, Crescent Growth Capital was hired to supervise the state historic tax credit application and monetization process for the fieldhouse’s $5 million historic rehabilitation.

CGC authored two sets of historic preservation certification applications for the two-phase project, translating architect Gould Evans’ design into an easily-comprehensible narrative resulting in no conditions attached to the Part 2 approvals issued by the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation.

The rehabilitated fieldhouse retains the original’s fine Art Deco exterior while re-exposing the steel trusses and redwood ceiling decking formerly obscured by a drop ceiling installed in an earlier renovation. The entrance lobby and common areas were recast according to a more spacious design prescribing clean lines and a dark color palette. Additional work was accomplished renovating and expanding public restrooms and locker rooms.

New Orleans Military & Maritime Academy

October 3, 2014 by

Inspired by the acclaimed military academy model employed by the Noble Street Charter School in Chicago, the New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy (“NOMMA”) opened its doors in August 2011. Requiring that all its student-cadets enroll in an on-campus Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (MJROTC) unit, NOMMA accepts all students who have passed Louisiana’s 8th Grade high-stakes LEAP test. Students defined by the state as “at-risk” are particularly sought. School leaders believe that NOMMA’s emphasis on self-discipline and “moral literacy” coupled with a “standards-based” curriculum that clearly defines academic and behavioral expectations, creates a uniquely potent platform to inculcate good habits in today’s youth.

The charter school opened in a temporary facility, a former public elementary school dating to the 1950s, but from the beginning its leaders envisioned moving to a permanent home. A plan was devised to rehabilitate historic Buildings 16 & 71 in Federal City, a former naval base, and link them with new construction to produce an 85,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art school campus.

Click this link to watch a short video on the school: Community Impact: NOMMA

In October 2012, Crescent Growth Capital helped NOMMA close on a $17.9 million aggregate QEI with Dudley Ventures and SECDE Ventures, leveraging CDBG proceeds and Qualified Zone Academy and Qualified School Construction Bonds (“QZABs” and “QSCBs”) to help fund the $18.4 million construction budget. The closing was a massive undertaking, requiring a team effort from a number of parties, including Iberia Bank, the New Orleans Federal Alliance, the Algiers Development District, the U.S. Marine Corps and the Louisiana Office of Community Development.

Simultaneously, CGC authored sets of federal and state historic preservation certification applications for Buildings 16 and 71, mediated between project architects and the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation, and aided in the creation of a new National Register Historic District: the U.S. Naval Station Algiers Historic District, which came into being on September 11, 2013. In 2014, the historic tax credit application and financing process was closed out, with NOMMA having incurred $10 million in Qualified Rehabilitation Expenses. This QRE total generated over $4.5 million in federal and state historic tax credit equity for the school.

For more information on the school, please visit their website.

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