Funding finances construction of an academic squash center for youth in the Encanto Community
SAN DIEGO —Civic San Diego (Civic) announced today the closing of a New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investment of $4 million for Access Youth Academy.
Access Youth Academy is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 with the belief that every child should have equal access to achieve their full potential, and that the San Diego community could benefit from an educational support program which uses the sport of squash as a catalyst to transform the lives of underserved youth. To date, Access Youth Academy has supported more than $6 million in student earned scholarships for college.
The project will result in a new, two-story, 21,500 square-foot structure that will house a nine-court, state-of-the-art squash and learning center. It will provide services to approximately 1,300 local students, scaling up from the 120 students served at its current location. A portion of the building will house three classrooms used for academic studies and tutoring sessions, a computer lab for college prep and admissions assistance, a conference room for meetings and workshops, a technology center, multipurpose meeting rooms and instructional space, staff offices, a kitchen/break room, and a parent lounge. The facility will blend sports, academics, and opportunities to offer training and classes for the public.
“We are very excited to be a part of this new project in the community,” said Andrew Phillips, Interim President of Civic San Diego. “The project is located within the San Diego Promise Zone and helps meet an identified need for youth education and after school programs.”
The New Markets Tax Credit Program, established by Congress in December 2000, permits individual and corporate taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making equity investments in vehicles known as Community Development Entities (CDEs). The CDEs in turn use the capital raised to make investments in low-income communities.
To date, the Civic San Diego Economic Growth and Neighborhood Investment Fund (a CDE) has received and invested $133 million in tax credit allocation in San Diego’s underserved communities. Civic’s NMTC Program provides below market financing with flexible terms to support high impact projects located in underserved neighborhoods. Civic’s strategy is to provide NMTC loans that enable disadvantaged businesses to grow, create quality jobs, and deliver critical goods and services to San Diego’s low-income residents. This can apply to different types of projects, including mixed-use, office, retail and health care.
Civic is actively working to identify qualifying projects to receive this type of investment.
Targeted Investment Requirements:
- For-profit or non-profit entities are eligible
- Total project cost in the $8 – $20 million range (NMTC equity typically provides about 20%)
- Funding is for real estate development or to support ongoing operations
- The balance of project financing has been identified
- Site control and entitlements are already in place
- Project needs to provide a strong community benefit, including job creation
- Project has local community support
Eligible Communities:
Projects located in highly distressed areas in the County of San Diego that have one or more of the following characteristics:
- Poverty rates greater than 30%
- Unemployment rates at least 1.5 times the national average
- Median income less than 60% of area median income
- Other distress factors such as designated food deserts or medically underserved areas
To present Civic with potential projects for NMTC funding, contact Joanna Whitley Broussard at whitley@civicsd.com.
###
Last modified: February 12, 2020