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Last winter, we coordinated an $800k bridge loan to help Access Youth Academy build a new facility and expand academic mentorship and the sport of squash for underserved youth to succeed in high school, college, and beyond.
This month Access hit a huge milestone in their progress and successfully repaid their loan.
Making the leap from renting to building and owning a facility is always complex, and layering on tax credit financing adds more than a few gray hairs! The Access team worked diligently with many stakeholders, including the City of San Diego who approved a $5.5 million grant to help make the new building a reality. Access' state-of-the-art squash and learning center will provide services to over 1,000 local students—880 more students than its current facility.
If you're wondering how squash changes lives, watch this inspiring episode of the new Apple TV+ show Little America. Based on the true story of an Access alumna, the episode depicts a young woman’s life-changing rise from cleaning houses to national urban squash champion. What they don't tell you is that she went on to earn a Gates scholarship at Columbia University (my alma mater!) and become an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs.
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