Enhanced Capital is proud to collaborate with Alembic Community Development and Leona Tate Foundation for Change (LTFC) to support the McDonogh 19 Elementary School’s redevelopment into the Tate, Etienne & Prevost Center (TEP Center) in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. The project, which expects to cost $14 million, is named after the three African American women who were the first to attend the previously all-white McDonogh 19 Elementary school at the age of six.

Enhanced Capital contributed $7.2 million in project financing through Louisiana and federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits and a federal New Markets Tax Credit Allocation. Enhanced Capital is proud to play a role in ensuring that this building becomes a living landmark and community asset that serves as a reminder of a difficult past while working to make our community and our country more equitable. Enhanced’s investment directly supports the TEP Center’s mission to combat structural racism, advance equitable economic development, and provide needed services for low-income populations.

Once complete, the TEP Center will house 25 affordable apartments for seniors, the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) with an anti-racism curriculum, and the TEP Interpretive Center operated by LTFC, which includes the new home of the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum. LTFC, a nonprofit organization led by Leona Tate, dedicated the interpretive center to educate visitors on school desegregation and civil rights. The interpretive center will provide a unique experience that allows visitors to see what it was like to walk in the shoes of Leona Tate and the other two first graders, Gail Etienne and Tessie Prevost. Additionally, the TEP Center will prioritize anti-racism principles by partnering with minority-led and -controlled nonprofits and small businesses, such as PISAB.

Located at 5909 Saint Claude Avenue, the TEP Center expects to open in March of 2021 and primarily target K-12 students, families, the local community, PISAB workshop groups, and cultural tourists. Enhanced Capital is honored to contribute financing to the TEP Center and build stronger, equitable communities nationwide.