NFF provided $14 million in New Markets Tax Credit allocation to support the conversion of the historic Loew’s Pitkin Theater in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, NY, into a mixed-use green development housing both Brownsville Ascend Charter School and an array of retail shops. Brownsville Ascend Charter School, is managed by the New York City based nonprofit Ascend Learning and will grow to encompass a K-12 program.
Ascend’s mission is to ensure that 100% of its graduating seniors are accepted to at least one institution of higher learning. As an engine of community development and sustainable growth, the NMTC project created 160 construction-related jobs and, between the retail establishments and school, will create as many as 170 full-time positions. For a census tract with a 38.5% poverty rate and unemployment at more than three times the national average in 2010, these contributions cannot come soon enough.