Soulsville Charter School

Read the full case study of our Soulsville partnership here.

Established in 2005 as one of the first charter schools in Tennessee, The Soulsville Charter School serves some of Memphis’s most vulnerable communities. The school’s rigorous academic programming and high expectations for students have produced a remarkable legacy of success: 100% of Soulsville graduates have been accepted to college. Additionally, a partnership with the nearby Stax Museum of American Soul Music provides students with unique, musically rich curricular opportunities.

Equitable Facilities Fund (EFF) provided a $10.3 million dollar loan to Soulsville to refinance New Market Tax Credit debt that funded the construction of the school’s 44,000-square-foot core facility building and a 15,000-square-foot multipurpose building. Compared to bond market financing, EFF’s loan will save the school $3.1 million dollars over the life of the loan.

“EFF’s efforts in helping us obtaining low-cost financing allow us to place even more emphasis on the quality of education our instructors and staff provide every day. It has helped us dedicate more resources to ensuring that every student we serve is prepared for a post-secondary education pathway and allowed us to focus more on our alumni support program to make sure students not only get accepted to college but graduate.”

– Ross Hurst, CFO, The Soulsville Foundation