Permanent financing and development assistance to charter schools
serving Latino and other minority under-served students.

The Raza School Building Fund is the centerpiece of RDF’s commitment to provide a full range of financing products to help charter school operators and charter school facility developers secure and improve adequate facilities for schools.

RDF has collaborated with Citibank’s Community Development Division to create a $50 million loan fund in order to provide permanent loans of up to $5 million and a seven year term to eligible schools within in the US. As part of its project financing commitment, RDF, through its agreements with other participating lenders, can also provide site acquisition, predevelopment and construction financing.

RDF also understands how difficult it is for new or small charter schools that are adding more students annually to find useable and affordable space in the communities they wish to serve. In many instances, property owners are not willing to fund improvements and modifications necessary to accommodate a charter school and its programs.

Property owners are often willing, however, to lease space if the charter school will assume responsibility for the costs of improvements and modifications.

For this reason, RDF introduced a Tenant Improvement Loan product in 2003. Tenant Improvement loans provide capital at below-market pricing to charter schools for which a leased facility is the best option financially – generally in the first one to three years of a school’s operation – until a school has stabilized operationally, has reached or is approaching maximum enrollment, or a permanent facility solution is feasible.

If you have questions or interest in the Fund Click Here.