The Steinbridge Group, an investor based in New York City, has a new partner to help it infuse $100M into developing property around historically Black colleges and universities as well as minority-serving institutions.
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With the fund, Steinbridge aims to turn the underutilized land that HBCUs and other MSIs own into economically productive areas. Steinbridge said these spaces will aim to address the economic disparities between the populations of HBCUs and other colleges.
A focus of the fund is attainable and affordable housing for faculty, local professionals and first responders who are faced with a high cost of living near universities.
Affordability requirements are expiring on hundreds of thousands of units across the country within the next five years, which is expected to exacerbate the national affordable housing crisis further.
Steinbridge, led by founder and CEO Tawan Davis, is partnering with the Student Freedom Initiative, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focused on furthering educational and economic resources for African American college students.
"The effort allows the acquisition and maintenance of the capital asset without the negative impact of long-term debt," SFI CEO Mark Brown said in a press release.
Brown said many HBCU presidents struggle with financing housing that may otherwise not be readily available in these communities, and being economically strapped impacts a school's credit ratings, faculty recruitment and entire student experience.
Because HBCUs get less than 1% of the philanthropic gifts Ivy League schools receive, their ability to grow into research institutions and impact local communities is stunted.
"[With this fund] these communities will have the resources to transform underutilized space to help to attract and retain talent while helping to make a college education affordable for students," SFI founder and chairman Robert F. Smith said in the release.
Over the next few months, Steinbridge and SFI will review and select interested institutions based on a set of criteria, like capacity to execute a large-scale development project, leadership to spearhead it and land suitable for economic and community development.
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