Non-profits

Family Service Association – The Neighborhood Place

December 15, 2016 by

Family Service is a nationally accredited, private, non-profit, non-sectarian agency funded by the United Way, and operating under fee-for-service contracts with a number of San Antonio’s largest outreach programs, including the Assistance League of San Antonio, the Alliance for Children and Families, and the Methodist Healthcare Ministries.

Family Service provides high quality services on more than 60 school campuses, in 8 agency offices, and within client homes. For the past 110 years, Family Service has been characterized by four traits that drive all agency programs and services: (1) an abiding dedication to families; (2) innovative research-based approaches; (3) responsible fiscal management; and (4) collaboration with community stakeholders.

Family Service has been a leader in San Antonio’s impoverished communities for decades, providing a full continuum of life supporting services including behavioral health counseling, crisis counseling, youth development, school & community engagement programming, workforce and financial empowerment, child care resource and referral, and Head Start early childhood education.

Family Service has been recognized by both Federal and State organizations as a leader in the implementation of evidence-based models, including, but not limited to the SAMHSA Science to Service Award, Best Practices Award Winner as well as serving as a research host site for multiple national level evidence-based curricula, including Multi-Dimensional Family Therapy, ACC/ACRA, Families and Schools Together, Parents as Teachers, Nurturing and Strengthening Families. Family Service is one of only ten nationally accredited child care resources/referral service centers and the only one in the state of Texas.

Located in the former H.K. Williams Elementary School, the repurposed Neighborhood Place is a collaborative community concept providing a comprehensive array of more than 40 programs and services designed to address troublesome community needs and improve outcomes for children and families.

The facility also represents a new and unique model for revitalizing an impoverished urban community, by focusing on services that strengthen families. The multi-tiered collaboration at the Neighborhood Place leverages resident leadership and public-private partnerships to deliver program services that help families work, earn, and save their way toward self-sufficiency. This model places a specific emphasis on improving the overall health of children within the family, through programs aimed at stemming child abuse, providing healthy food alternatives, and helping families better prepare children to succeed in school.

In 2014, more than 60 organizations utilized The Neighborhood Place to provide a diverse array of services to the community, including the City of San Antonio, VITA tax preparation services, H.E.B., Texas Veterans Commission, Twogether in Texas, Texas A&M, UT San Antonio, Positive Choices, Odyssey, Antioch Baptist Church, Bexar Area Agency on Aging, UT Health Science Center, Project MELD, Boystown, Immaculate Conception, Girls Inc., KLRN, Texas Council on Family, Superior Health, Holy Cross, Ballet Folklorico, AVANCE, Hispanas Unidas, Girls Scouts, Head Start, Alliance for Veterans, etc.

The majority of the people who visit The Neighborhood Place each year come from the surrounding neighborhoods, which are predominately Latino, and are extremely impoverished: 32% of all residents, and nearly 44% of households with children, live below the federal poverty line. Among adults in the targeted zip codes, fully 47% do not have a high school education.

Despite all the programs and services Family Service Association provides out of The Neighborhood Place, the facility was in drastic need of repairs, including an upgraded HVAC system, asbestos remediation, electrical upgrades, additional restrooms, security, as well as upgrades to parking, flooring and perimeter fencing.

In December, 2016, CGC and Family Service Association closed on a $6M NMTC financing to provide the financing necessary to renovate The Neighborhood Place, utilizing NMTC allocation provided by Enhanced Capital and Wells Fargo.

Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep

November 2, 2016 by

Founded in Chicago in 2001 by Father John P. Foley, S.J., the Cristo Rey network is the largest network of high schools in the US whose enrollment is limited to low-income youth. Cristo Rey employs an innovative business model, wherein students work five days each month in entry-level jobs at local professional companies, with the fee for their work being directed to underwrite tuition costs. Operating on a franchise system, each Cristo Rey school is a partnership between a local operator with an established track record, and the proven Cristo Rey 9-12 programming that is based on rigorous academics, four years of professional work experience, and Catholic moral values, employed in a high-expectations environment. Students’ tuition is subsidized by the same work study program that prepares them for college, as well as putting them in good position to succeed in their first job.

Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep (“CRDCP”), the 30th Cristo Rey school nationwide, welcomed its inaugural 126-member freshman class in September, 2015, operating out of the St. Augustine Drive site in Pleasant Grove, under a lease with the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. The need for a Cristo Rey school in the Pleasant Grove neighborhood in Dallas is readily apparent: of the 244,660 residents of Pleasant Grove, 64.5% are Hispanic, 29.5% are African American, and 55% of families earn $34,000 or less. The Dallas Independent School District (“DISD”) is considered an underperforming school district, and within DISD, the primary and secondary schools in Pleasant Grove are among the lowest-performing, while not benefitting from any strong, established secondary charter schools, like other areas of Dallas. Only 71% of Pleasant Grove students graduate high school, and only 41.6% of high school seniors took the ACT/SAT, and their average score was a 16/36 (22nd percentile) on the ACT, and 1104/2400 on the SAT (1550 is the benchmark for college readiness).

While the need for the new CRDCP school was apparent, the existing 60-year old facilities on the Pleasant Grove campus – originally designed for 250 elementary school students – were woefully inadequate for a 500-student 9-12 high school. So in 2015, CRDCP began preparations for a massive capital campaign to raise the funds necessary to build a new high school. In November, 2016, Crescent Growth Capital worked with Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep to close a $9.5M NMTC financing for the first phase of its new high school facility, utilizing $7M in NMTC allocation from the City of Dallas and $2.5M from Capital One Bank, as well as a construction loan provided by Frost Bank.

The $9.7M Phase 1 LEED-certified facility will house 15 classrooms, 4 state-of-the-art science labs, and offices for the principal, dean of students and dean of academics, while creating 32 new jobs.

The project site is located within a USDA-designated Food Desert, and Cristo Rey Dallas has a strict no outside food policy. They provide students with meals through the National School Lunch Program and have school-wide physical recreation time on Friday mornings to encourage healthy habits. Future goals include starting a community garden to provide healthy food to both students and the community.

CRDCP will employ the same Corporate Work Study Program found in all Cristo Rey schools. The program is an innovative model of education that gives students a Catholic, college-preparatory education while earning work experience in a corporate setting. Four students rotate through the week to fill the position full-time. Each student has an assigned day on which he or she works. On Friday, the four students rotate to share the fifth day of the week. In each four-week span, each student will have one week in which he or she works two days. Student schedules are created so that students never miss a class.

National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor

July 29, 2016 by

French Ursuline nuns first arrived in New Orleans in 1727. The Ursulines established a convent and founded Ursuline Academy, the oldest continuously-operating school for young women in the territory of the modern-day United States. With the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, New Orleans became part of the culturally Protestant American nation. It was unclear to the Ursulines whether their institution would be welcome within the young republic, and they appealed to their French metropole for assistance. With France in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars, the Louisiana Ursulines were told only a direct appeal to the pope – with scant chance of success – might bring them aid. A direct appeal was issued, accompanied by a promise to the Virgin Mary that she would be honored in New Orleans under the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor should the pope quickly return a favorable response to the Ursulines’ plea. The Ursulines’ request for assistance was granted by Pope Pius VII on April 29, 1809, just over a month after the letter of appeal had been mailed. The grateful Ursulines had commissioned a statue of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus; this was conveyed to Louisiana, arriving in 1810, along with several additional Ursuline postulants for the convent and school. The Catholic Church attributes several miracles to Our Lady of Prompt Succor, most famously the victory over the British of the American army under General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans (1815).

When Ursuline Academy relocated to its present campus in 1912, the Ursulines determined to construct a purpose-built shrine to Our Lady of Prompt Succor. In the wake of a successful fundraising campaign, the Gothic Revival National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor was dedicated in 1924.

The shrine is L-shaped (in plan) and clad in brick with limestone trim. The principal façade presents as a narrow, single bay, dominated by a tall stained glass window trimmed in limestone and divided into three vertical elements by two stepped stone piers springing from a protruding entrance portico. The front-gabled portico, clad entirely in limestone, rises to a decorative peak. An archivolt spans the recessed main entrance, with entry into the shrine afforded via carved wooden doors. Empty statuary niches capped with peaked canopies anchor the outside of the portico, and stepped brick piers flank the outside edge of the front elevation. Blind porticos executed in limestone rise from the steps, with empty statuary niches above. The other four principal elevations are dominated by large stained-glass window installations, trimmed in limestone and separated from one another by protruding, stepped brick-clad piers with limestone caps. A copper-clad spire rises from the roof at the intersection of the legs of the “L.” A one-story wing extends from the north elevation, while an octagonal turret is nestled in the crook of the “L”.

The Gothic Revival interior consists of two principal spaces, the two arms of the “L”. The first extends from the main entrance and features galleried side aisles, while the second is a column-less space. Extensive interior ornamentation is executed in limestone and brick.

The construction of the shrine within the Uptown-University neighborhood fits squarely within that area’s development history, as its completion was preceded by Tulane University’s move to its present campus, the nearby arrival of the Jesuit order, in 1912, with the establishment of Loyola University’s current location, and the subsequent construction of numerous additional public and private institutional facilities. The shrine not only contributes to the architectural fabric of the Uptown-University district; it also a key component of the historic Ursuline Academy State Street campus and underlines the prevalence of educational and cultural uses found within the Uptown-University Cultural District, a concentration unique in the state.

In recent years Crescent Growth Capital has repeatedly helped Ursuline Academy leverage its capital projects fundraising to generate tax credit subsidies, and in March 2013, Crescent was approached by the Ursuline Sisters to provide contingent fee-based historic preservation consulting and historic tax credit monetization services in support of a $2.2 million rehabilitation of the shrine.

Crescent Growth Capital’s in-house historic preservation specialist prepared a three-element Louisiana State Historic Preservation Certification Application over thirty-one months. Part 3 approval was received on May 17, 2016, with credit monetization accomplished by Crescent and tax credit sale proceeds delivered to the Sisters of Ursula in July.

West Texas Food Bank

July 20, 2016 by

For more than 20 years, the West Texas Food Bank (“WTFB”) has been West Texas’ only provider of reliable, affordable food. The Food Bank serves the needy in two ways; first, they provide meals to more than 44,000 clients annually in their 19-county footprint. Secondly, they provide food to a network more than 80 non-profits, leveraging the wider reach of those partners. WTFB continues to purchase greater amounts of food, because greater efficiency in food manufacturing is reducing surpluses that used to be donated to food banks, and also because of increased demand, particularly in the Permian Basin area.

The inflationary effect on rents as a result of the oil boom has driven many people, especially the longtime resident elderly, to seek food from WTFB and its partners. Elderly residents living on fixed incomes cannot easily survive as food prices rise. The Food Bank, with its affiliation with Feeding America, is able to negotiate cheaper prices on food, passing this savings along to its partners and expanding the reliable supply of free food to the neediest of West Texas residents.

For more than a decade, the WTFB has recognized that the demand for its services far outstrips its ability to cope with that demand, that a new, larger facility would be required to meet growing needs. Census data reports that since 2000, the combined population of Midland and Ector counties has risen by more than 40,000 people, and the number of individuals served by the WTFB has grown in lock-step with the population increase over that time. The existing facilities are out-of-date, over-used, and under-prepared to serve hungry West Texans.

Despite being hamstrung by inadequate facilities, WTFB’s impact on the community has nevertheless been staggering. In 2014, WTFB distributed over 5 million pounds of food, or 4.2 million meal equivalent, to people in need: 40% of whom are children, 16% are seniors, and 63% are Latino. Seventy-four percent of WTFB clients have incomes that fall at or below the federal poverty level, with 89% of client households having annual incomes of $20,000 or less.

17 of the 19 counties WTFB serves are rural, and most of their service area is a USDA Food Desert. Over 98% of the 418 US counties that are designated Food Deserts are rural, and are some of the poorest in the US. Rural food deserts not only face higher poverty rates, lower median incomes, and significantly older populations than other rural counties, but they also suffer from severely limited access to quality, affordable food options, resulting in an extremely unhealthy and impoverished community. Studies conducted in rural food deserts show that more than 45% of the population did not consume adequate amounts of fresh fruits, 67% did not eat enough vegetables, and 34% lacked adequate dairy in their diets[1]. These populations must turn to smaller grocery stores that have a limited variety of quality foods and tend to charge higher prices[2].

In July, 2016, WTFB and Crescent Growth Capital closed on a $6MM NMTC financing, utilizing $5MM in allocation from McCormack Baron Salazar and $1MM from US Bank, to finance to construct a new 11,150 square foot volunteer activity and program innovation center. The nearly $6MM distribution center will feature 11,150 square feet of interior space and 7,000 feet in outdoor learning space, serving as the primary volunteer activity and program innovation center for the WTFB. The facility will add storage capacity as well, but more importantly, it will provide space to interact with the community, for classes covering topics ranging from basic nutrition and wellness to growing fruit and vegetables at home.

Volunteers, such an integral part of the food bank’s operations, will finally have adequate space to meet and work, operating a wide variety of programs at a very efficient cost. The WTFB simply could not provide all it does for the community, were it not for its army of volunteers donating their spare time to help their hungry neighbors. A new facility will greatly improve volunteers’ effect on the surrounding community. The $6MM Midland project includes the following amenities:

Demonstration Kitchen – A fully outfitted home-style kitchen used to demonstrate appropriate cooking techniques to community members such as youth groups, SNAP recipients, people with health issues that bring with them with dietary restrictions, and many more groups who will receive instruction from food experts.
Client Choice Pantry – Modeled after a convenience store, this room will have refrigeration and shelving that allows clients who need food to come in and select what foods they want. The Client Choice Pantry is available to first-time users; thereafter, clients are referred to one of the WTFB partners for ongoing service.
Large Warehouse Area – The warehouse area is used for storing foods, and includes a freezer/refrigerator section of significant size, and will serve as a staging area, utilized by the many volunteers who serve as unpaid labor for the food bank.
Community & Training Room – This room will be available for use by the community for meetings and conferences. It will be fully outfitted with audio-visual equipment to facilitate presentations so that appropriate learning can take place.
Hunger Alleviating Trail – An outdoor learning space, the Trail will be planted with native plants that are edible, and other plants that can thrive in Texas’ arid climate. It will serve as a meeting place for youth groups and others to learn how to grow desert gardens.
Earth-Bermed & Conventional Green Houses – An underground greenhouse will receive daylight but will be maintained at a cooler temperature to allow for a wider variety of plant life to blossom. An above-ground green house to grow winter vegetables during the cooler months.

[1] “Starved for Access: Life in Rural America’s Food Deserts”

[2] P.M Morris, L. Neuhauser, and C. Campbell, “Food Security in Rural America: A Study of the Availability and Costs of Food.” Journal of Nutrition Education 24: 52S-8S; (1992)

Los Barrios Unidos – Family Health Center

December 22, 2015 by

The mission of Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic (LBUCC) is to proudly provide quality care to all people, creating a safe, affordable, and accessible healthcare experience. In 1972, the residents of several West Dallas neighborhoods united to open a community clinic in a portable building to serve a population disenfranchised from the economic and social services of the city due primarily to language and cultural differences.

LBUCC has flourished tremendously since its opening. 93% of LBUCC’s 21,000 patients are Hispanic and 74% are uninsured. Nearly 30 clinicians provide 70,000 patient visits each year. Patients are drawn from all parts of Dallas County although West Dallas, Oak Cliff and Grand Prairie are the core market areas. LBUCC proudly provides top-notch care to all people regardless of race, ethnicity, place of residence or even the ability to pay.

There is no shortage of need for affordable primary care in Dallas County, which is the second largest Metropolitan area in Texas in terms of size and population , and ranks ninth in the nation. 18.7% of Dallas County’s 2,368,139 residents or over 443,000 individuals live below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (Census 2010).

In late 2014, Los Barrios Unidos engaged Crescent Growth Capital to facilitate the NMTC financing of its new Family Health Center, a new 21,400 square foot clinic offering 15 exam rooms, 3 open Team Stations with 4 modular workstations each, a large ground floor laboratory, a phlebotomy area, a massive 75-seat waiting area and plenty of storage.

In December, 2015, LBUCC and CGC closed on a $7MM federal NMTC financing, providing the funding necessary to construct the Family Health Center, using NMTC allocations provided by Primary Care Development Corporation and Capital One Bank. The NMTC subsidy drastically reduced LBUCC’s cost of capital, greatly reducing the ongoing debt burden for a non-profit FQHC whose patient base is nearly 3/4’s uninsured, while creating 24 new FTE jobs in one of Dallas’ most impoverished areas.

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