CLEVELAND, August 14, 2024 — Cleveland Development Advisors (CDA) has provided an $8 million federal New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation paired with $2.5 million Ohio NMTC allocation to Urban Community School (UCS) for the construction of a $10 million athletic center at its Ohio City campus.
The new 30,000-square-foot facility is expected to serve 4,000 to 5,000 children and families annually, with 75% coming from low-income backgrounds or residing in low-income communities.
The center will provide programming space for community partners, including:
- Near West Recreation, a very popular youth recreation league providing thousands of Cleveland youth access to organized sports annually
- Re: Source Cleveland (formerly Refugee Response), which serves refugees from around the world. The new center they will provide additional space for many of their youth programs including Corner 65, a soccer program for children from refugee families.
- House of Champions, an afterschool program and close partner of Urban Community School which helps meet the needs of kids until 8pm every night
“Youth sports are critical to community building and wellness, but finding safe spaces to play can be difficult,” said Tom Gill, President of UCS. “This new center will fill a critical need, and the tax credits from CDA are crucial to our funding strategy.”
Urban Community School (UCS) is a model for urban education, providing high-quality, holistic education and support services to students and families in Cleveland. UCS strives to empower students to achieve academic success, personal growth, and social responsibility.
Yvette Ittu, President and CEO of CDA said that prior experience has demonstrated that
Urban Community School is good investment.
“We previously provided a $5 million NMTC allocation for the middle school expansion to meet the growing demand for UCS’s unique model,” she said. “That 2016 project initiated an innovative $20 million capital campaign, transforming the UCS campus over the past few years and offering students and families a holistic approach to education, wellness , and a wide range of enrichment opportunities.”
In just seven years since launching the middle school project, the UCS campus has grown to include a wide array of services including:
- The MetroHealth Ohio City Health Center, serving up to 90,000 patient visits annually, where UCS families can access on-campus care and services from partners like Legal Aid Society and the Cleveland Foodbank.
- An Early Childhood and Parent Development Center, providing daycare and Pre-K services to 120 children aged 6 weeks until kindergarten.
- The Urban Squash Cleveland facility which provides Cleveland youth with academic support, coaching in the sport of squash, a wide-range of character building activities and post-secondary services.
This project exemplifies how strategic investments in education and recreational facilities can drive positive change and create lasting impacts in underserved communities.