Program-Related Investments: The City of Indianapolis and Charter Schools
Date Published: 01/30/2007
Author: The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Contact Email: ebalboni@lisc.org
A case study on supporting charter school facilities financing.
Beyond providing education options to low-income families and boosting academic achievements, charter schools can help catalyze community revitalization and encourage economic development. Nevertheless, they face significant obstacles in securing funds for renovating or building new school facilities, and are often perceived by lenders as risky investments. A recent case study examines a model solution designed by The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the City of Indianapolis in partnership with LISC, Bank One, J.P. Morgan Chase, and the Indianapolis Bond Bank, to support charter school facilities financing in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. The strategy centers on the use of the Foundation's Program-Related Investments (PRIs), through which limited funds can be leveraged more effectively than they would be as grants and are used to mitigate risks and attract co-investment from the public, private and nonprofit sectors, resulting in a greater number of schools being developed.
More information:
The Educational Facilities Financing Center (EFFC) at LISC supports quality public charter and alternative schools in low-income neighborhoods. To further its mission of helping community organizations transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy ones, LISC founded the EFFC in 2003 to intensify its efforts in the area of educational facilities financing.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation supports a variety of education reform efforts to create high-performing learning communities for young people across the country.
Topic: --Educational Facilities
Type: Case study / model practice