With help and support from our Leadership team, Ms. Sawyer, our school founder and principal, has been working diligently for more than a year to develop the flagship campus for Champion Schools. U.S. Charter Group, a facilities development company has been an essential part of this process. They helped us identify and purchase 4.5 acres next door to the South Mountain YMCA, create a fantastic school design and obtain City of Phoenix approval for all aspects of our building project. U.S. Charter Group has also been helping us raise the final financing so that we can break ground and complete the project.
This last year has been challenging for all sectors of the economy and even though we have had this final piece of financing approved three different times, it has not ended up being funded yet. We agreed with U.S. Charter Group that we needed to review, re-think and re-vise our fundraising strategy. This new strategy was started in December and we are progressing as quickly as the underwriting process allows. We are working with U.S. Charter Group and D.A. Davidson to finance the entire building project by raising a bond through our non-profit organization: Fit Kids, Inc. Some of you may already be familiar with Fit-Kids through our fund-raising efforts for the “I’m going to College” field trip to UCLA and other athletic activities.
As an established leader in charter school financing, D.A. Davidson understands the legal and financial variables that allow charter schools to gain access to the tax-exempt capital market. They have provided financing to 100 charter schools totaling over $800 million in Colorado, Illinois, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Pennsylvania and Arizona. D.A. Davidson has also provided financing to 13 of the schools built by U.S. Charter group. The following link will give you information about D.A. Davidson’s commitment to public facilities financing and biographical information about the investment bankers at DA Davidson who we are working with directly. If you have any questions feel free to contact csawyer@championschools.org.
Champion Schools 