OCSD5's High School for Health Professions (HSHP) is a public charter school focused on preparing area students for careers in the healthcare industry. The Title I school maintained a 98% graduation rate, despite operating in an outdated building lacking central heat and air. In 2017, HSHP moved into a brand new, state-of-the-art facility with room to grow as enrollment increases, but they still needed a permanent financing solution for the new building.
SCCLF was able to finance this project as a participant in the USDA Community Facilities Relending Program, and thanks to Uplift America. Uplift America was designed to support participation in the Community Facilities Relending Program by increasing the capacity of SCCLF and other community development organizations to manage and deploy the community facility capital. Private financial institutions, primarily Bank of America, provided guarantees for the first five years of the loans. Re-lenders were eligible to apply for net-asset and capacity building grants from a $22 million fund pooled by several philanthropic foundations managed by Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The private grants offered critical capacity building support, enabling organizations to borrow the federal resources. As a result of this partnership, community lenders like SCCLF are able to deploy capital for large-scale projects in rural communities starved for investment.
In Orangeburg, this loan has allowed the district to create a permanent home for a school that that will produce generations of students prepared to care for their communities by pursuing careers in the healthcare industry. The impact of this project on the Orangeburg community is immeasurable, and made possible by partners across multiple sectors working together to make significant capital investments where they are needed most.
Read more about the Uplift America partnership in the
here, and read more about the High School for Health Professions loan on the
SCCLF blog.
