Non-profits

St. Augustine High School – Rigaud Wellness Center

August 13, 2025 by

New Orleans’ large population of African American Roman Catholics is yet another unusual characteristic distinguishing the Crescent City from other places in America. Catholics constitute a plurality of the city’s and region’s population, and their predominance has profoundly affected Greater New Orleans’ educational system. Historically far more affordable than most independent private day schools operating in the United States, New Orleans’ Catholic schools long educated great numbers of students hailing from all backgrounds, with working class pupils always comprising a large proportion of the total student body.

And yet as late as the mid-20^th century, an all-boys Catholic high school education was not available to young Black men of New Orleans. The founding of St. Augustine High School in 1951 extended to African American high school-aged young men of the city an opportunity for single-sex Catholic education that had long been afforded their white co-religionists.

“St. Aug” quickly developed a reputation for both academic and athletic excellence. In the past seventy years, the school has grown into one of the nation’s premier incubators of Black talent, with the nearly 10,000 graduates of its college preparatory curriculum having regularly notched accomplishments like earning admission to Ivy League institutions, rising to executive positions within Fortune 500 companies nationwide, and serving as political and community leaders in both New Orleans and across the country. Countless professional athletes are alumni, and the school’s famed marching band has for decades been a highlight of the Mardi Gras season.

The present-day campus consists of three components: the original classroom building (1951), a 1971 addition consisting of a gymnasium, locker rooms, a band rehearsal room, and offices for athletic staff and music instructors, and a 2005 addition consisting of a library, computer labs, a cafeteria dining hall, a chapel and residences for school faculty. The 1951 classroom building epitomizes the thoughtful spatial composition and judicious mixing of materials that underpinned successful essays in Midcentury Modern exterior design. Subsequent additions to the campus – the 1971 gymnasium and the 2005 building – have succeeded at keeping the 1951 building primary amidst the ensemble.

However, by 2020 the school’s facilities were in need of comprehensive modernization. In 2021, St. Augustine initiated its Strategic Facilities Plan to guide a $25 million effort to upgrade the school’s academic and athletic infrastructure.

Executing the plan without imperiling other priorities wasn’t easy. St. Augustine strives to admit young men on a need-blind basis, which is a stretch given the socioeconomic makeup of the student body. More than seven in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, over one in three students qualify for federal Department of Education grants to pay for half their tuition, and more than seven in ten students receive some sort of need-based tuition aid. Resources redirected to supporting the facilities plan could not be easily replaced with tuition increases. A final hurdle appeared when construction contractors repairing Hurricane Ida damage failed to properly secure combustible materials in the gymnasium. On Thanksgiving Day 2021 a fire erupted, causing heavy damage to the school’s multipurpose 1971 gymnasium building.

In need of innovative funding options, St. Augustine hired Crescent Growth Capital in 2023 to source and structure New Markets Tax Credit and Louisiana State Historic Tax Credit equity to help fund the conversion of the 1971 gymnasium into the Rigaud Health and Wellness Center. Crescent Growth Capital structured a financing incorporating Federal and Louisiana State New Markets Tax Credits, achieving financial closing in July 2024.

Meanwhile, Crescent’s in-house historic preservation consulting capabilities were deployed to prepare a three-element Historic Preservation Certification Application, with the only condition attached to Part 2 approval being a change in the specified color of some exterior metal cladding. Part 3 approval was received in May 2025, and the resulting historic tax credits were monetized in August. Crescent realized over $3.6 million in net subsidy for St. Augustine’s $13.6 million project.

St. Joseph Abbey & Seminary College

February 20, 2025 by

The Catholic Benedictine Order dates to the late 5^th century A.D. Called upon by New Orleans Archbishop Francis Janssens to found a seminary capable of supporting the development of a clergy native to the region, the Benedictines established St. Joseph Preparatory Seminary in 1891. The institution’s initial site near Pontchatoula eventually proved to be unsatisfactory, so St. Joseph relocated in 1902 to a 1,200-acre tract near Covington, LA. Located on the Northshore, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, St. Joseph remains there to this day.

The earliest surviving buildings on the campus date to 1909, when a large, three-story monastery/seminary and a detached one-story refectory (dining hall) were completed to a design by Benedictine Father Gregory Uhlenbrock, who had trained as an architect in his native Germany. New Orleans architect Theodore Brune designed the Romanesque-style abbey church, completed in 1932; stunning interior murals were added in the late 1940s to these historic buildings, executed by Benedictine Father Gregory DeWit, with the assistance of Swiss native Milo Piuz.

The continued growth of the seminary in the postwar period prompted the construction of an entirely new complex, a multi-building Miesian effort designed by the New Orleans architecture firm Lawrence and Saunders and inaugurated in 1960. The firm also designed a retreat house for laypersons, completed in 1964. In 1969 the seminary received accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools, and St. Joseph Abbey and Seminary College came into being.

On the night of March 11, 2016, St. Joseph’s fine campus was inundated by over two feet of floodwaters when the Bogue Falaya River overflowed its banks, flooding fourteen buildings. In the wake of this disaster, Crescent Growth Capital was hired to pursue Louisiana Historic Tax Credits on behalf of the abbey.

Over the next nine years, Crescent deployed both in-house historic preservation consulting and tax credit monetization capabilities to subsidize the rehabilitation of seven of the nine principal buildings on campus, including pre-World War II examples (monastery, refectory, abbey church) and Midcentury Modern designs (Benet, Savio and Vianney Halls, Retreat House).

Upon its accomplishing, in February 2025, the fourth tax credit monetization and delivery of sale proceeds to St. Joseph, Crescent had successfully leveraged over $28 million of Qualified Rehabilitation Expenditures to generate nearly $5.7 million in tax-free sale proceeds for St. Joseph Abbey and Seminary College.

West Las Vegas Library

April 5, 2024 by

Las Vegas-Clark County Library District (LVCCLD) is planning a new facility to serve the severely distressed West Las Vegas neighborhood. The neighborhood is deeply impoverished; more than four out of ten households earn less than $25,000 a year, and nearly half of all households with children live in poverty. Six of the seven census tracts to be served by the new library are severely distressed. (The census tract that will host the library possesses a poverty rate of 55.1% and a household median income amounting to not even one-third of the region’s figure.) Over 75% of the population within the library’s service area is non-white, and with fewer than 1 in 10 of those over 25 years old having earned college degrees, overall educational attainment is low. West Las Vegas is also considered to be the most unsafe neighborhood in the city, with violent crime rates over 700% higher than the U.S. average. The neighborhood is crying out for a well-resourced, broad-based intervention.

The new West Las Vegas library will devote no more than 15% of its interior square footage to book stacks. Rather, libraries today are “services-centric” opportunity hubs. To unlock the human development potential of its highly-disadvantaged service area, the new library will focus on four areas: Business & Career Services/Workforce Development (Employ NV Career Hub), Family Learning, School Support (children & teens), and Social Services & Healthcare (in partnership with Intermountain Healthcare & the Southern Nevada Health District). 21^st century skill sets will be taught, including Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Creativity and Innovation, Communication and Collaboration, Visual Literacy, Media Literacy, Entrepreneurial Literacy and Global Awareness. This will leverage the library system’s mature programming capacity: Over 1,000 programs per year will be offered, addressing topics such as early childhood and parenting education, media production within dedicated makerspace labs, culinary and nutrition programs, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) projects, and English language, high school diploma, and citizenship instruction.

In March of 2024, in partnership with Clearinghouse Community Development Financial Institutions, Prestamos CDFI, Accion Opportunity Fund, and Chase Bank, Crescent closed on a $33.5M Federal NMTC financing to construct a 40,000 SF library – more than twice the size of the library currently serving the neighborhood – will support this within Project-Based Learning Spaces, including an Innovation Lab, Youth Technology Area & Multimedia Area (A/V Studios, Green Room, Editing Suite, Music Room), Children’s Collection & Story Time Space, Tween Area, Teen Area, Adult Learning Classroom, Adult Learning Lab, Employ NV Career Hub, Business Center, Computer Lab, Conference Room and Event Spaces (with a kitchen), Tech Area Flex Space, Quiet Room, and Study Booths.

The library will engage in four key areas: Business & Career Services/Workforce Development, Family Learning, School Support, and Social Services & Healthcare.

By combining cutting-edge programming, experienced outside partners, state-of-the-art infrastructure and sympathetic design, the new facility will catalyze transformative improvement in educational and social outcomes for its users.

Approximately 22,000 people will be served annually by the services provided by the new branch, and 250 jobs will result from its construction and operation.

Second Harvest of the Big Bend

April 3, 2024 by

Second Harvest of the Big Bend was founded in 1982 and first focused on collecting and distributing perishable food. An affiliate of the nationwide Feeding America food bank network. Second Harvest’s service area consists of an expansive, sixteen-county region in the central Florida Panhandle. Last year, SHBB distributed a record 13.8 million pounds of food donated by national manufacturers, food wholesalers and distributors, other regional food banks, local food retailers, regional farmers, local food drives and individual donors. SHBB also routinely purchases some foods at a wholesale rate and distributes U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Commodities through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). In 2022 SHBB served over 120,000 individuals, 59.4% of whom were members of ethnic or racial minorities.

SHBB has developed several programs tailored to its clients, many of whom live in remote rural areas (51.5% of all clients). Twelve mobile pantries, known as “Just in Time” distribution vehicles, are often located in church or nonprofit parking lots in a farmers’ market-style distribution, while the Senior Grocery Program provides low-income seniors with supplemental nutrition at the end of the month, when seniors’ financial resources are often depleted. (Over a quarter of those SHBB serves are seniors.)

Despite last year’s record level of food distribution, the end of pandemic-era assistance programs has triggered an explosion in demand, and SHBB estimates that a near-doubling of its annual capacity, to 25 million pounds, is required to adequately serve those struggling with food insecurity.

In March of 2024, in partnership with Hampton Roads Ventures, CCG Community Partners, and Truist Bank, Crescent closed on a $13.0M Federal NMTC financing to upgrade and expand its existing facilities, technology, programs and staff. An $11 million facility expansion will fund:

Volunteer Hub – a dedicated food-loading workspace to separate volunteers from forklift operators and improve safety;
Community Training Center – a space for training food safety and nutrition education specialists;
Community Wellness and Education Center – a demonstration kitchen to educate food-insecure persons in gardening, nutrition, food preparation and cooking – resulting in self-sufficiency and better nutrition;
Agricultural Education Center – a new, outdoor education area for demonstrations and workshops, to include a greenhouse, room for additional gardens, raised beds and row crops, plus a composter to generate soil and reduce landfill waste.

Eight new full-time staffers will be leveraged to supervise the planned aggressive expansion in output, new equipment will ease the difficulties SHBB encounters in serving its rural clients, and new technology will support both better internal performance and improve cooperation with the 135 nonprofit partners SHBB collaborates with to serve its highly-disadvantaged, “majority-minority”, mostly rural client base within its sixteen-county service area. SHBB’s significantly improved capability in its designated role as the North Florida Disaster Hub will also greatly benefit its clientele, whose poverty renders them especially vulnerable to climate change-induced extreme weather events.

Metrocrest Services

March 1, 2024 by

For more than 50 years, Metrocrest Services (“Metrocrest”) has provided programs for individuals, families and seniors that lead to self-sufficiency and foster independence. Every day, Metrocrest offers a comprehensive bundle of services to address gaps in finances, employment and nutrition to help holistically end poverty for residents of Addison, Carrollton, Coppell, Farmers Branch and the City of Dallas in Denton County.

The Metrocrest Services Bundled Model is a holistic approach that has three areas of focus: Basic Needs (housing stabilization and food), Financial Capability (education and coaching) and Workforce Development (job counseling, GED preparation and certifications/education). Focusing on a client-centered approach, Case Manager Coaches (CMC’s) build trust and empower clients through one-on-one coaching sessions where clients drive the conversations.

With this approach, Metrocrest clients build upon their past successes and are able to construct a stable foundation for their future. A recent survey of clients who sought help in the previous 18-months underscores the success and stability found with the agency’s help: 66 percent of families reported at least 6 months of housing stability after receiving rent assistance and 85 percent reported a better understanding of their finances after working with a case manager or utilizing educational resources. In FY23, Metrocrest Services assisted 22,006 unduplicated individuals and distributed 3,793,238 meals through its food programs (food pantry and seasonal programs).

Metrocrest Services is committed to building a stronger community together – a thriving community for all. As the only agency providing a comprehensive approach to social services in northwest Dallas County, Metrocrest is uniquely positioned to provide the tools and resources for individuals, families, and seniors to respond to crises, get out of poverty, and stabilize. Having celebrated its 50th anniversary year in 2021, the Board of Directors turned its focus on the next 50 years. Looking towards the future, Metrocrest developed a plan to increase capacity and improve services and programs through the construction of a new facility to focus on expanded client services and community engagement.

In February of 2024, in partnership with Enterprise Bank, PeopleFund Advisors, and Capital One Bank, Crescent closed on a $15.5M Federal NMTC financing to construct a new facility, which has expanded Metrocrest Services’ breadth of services in the Dallas area.

The new 48,000 square-foot facility has quickly become the epicenter of Metrocrest Services’ daily operations and includes: expanded case management services, a Center for Employment and Continued Education, an expanded Food Pantry with a new Volunteer Center and allocated space for complementary services. A Training Kitchen and Teaching Garden is available for community engagement, events, and for special programming. This increase in capacity will afford Metrocrest multiple opportunities to expand current programs and introduce new services in one central location.

The $19.1M project has already created 5 new FTE positions, while greatly expanding the scope of all Metrocrest’s existing programming.

University of the Incarnate Word – Dubuis Hall

November 24, 2023 by

Present in Texas since 1867, the Catholic Order of the Incarnate Word purchased in 1897 the 283-acre estate of the late Colonel George Brackenridge, located in San Antonio at the present-day intersection of Broadway and E. Hildebrand. By 1909 “Incarnate Word College” enrolled 125 young women. Accelerating enrollment growth demanded the construction of a dedicated dormitory building, and the Collegiate Gothic-style Dubuis Hall was completed in 1929. Coeducational enrollment began in 1971, and the college was renamed the University of the Incarnate Word in 1996.

Desiring to reposition the never-renovated residence hall as a “freshman dormitory” designed to encourage the development of esprit de corps among incoming college classes, the university approached Crescent Growth Capital once again to determine whether tax credits could allow for a significant subsidy to be derived, to offset the $10 million project cost.

In April 2020, Crescent was hired on a contingent fee-basis to qualify Dubuis Hall for Texas Historic Preservation Tax Credits and monetize the resulting credit award on behalf of UIW. A twin-track process was necessary to accomplish this: 1) Nominate Dubuis Hall to the National Register of Historic Places and 2) Prepare and submit the Texas state historic preservation certification application (Parts A, B and C).

Crescent’s in-house historic preservation specialist prepared a four-element Historic Preservation Certification Application (including multiple Part B supplements) over a two-and-a-half-year period, as well as supervising the parallel effort undertaken to individually list Dubuis Hall on the National Register of Historic Places. Subsequent to its National Register listing on May 30, 2023, Crescent received Part C approval from the Texas Historical Commission on June 20, 2023. A lengthy monetization process developed, with Crescent successfully navigating numerous delays to convey net sale proceeds of approximately $2 million to the university in November 2023, representing the fourth discrete UIW capital project for which Crescent has arranged a sizeable subsidy.

Non-profits

Contact Us

Footer