San Antonio Youth Arts Education Program Upgrades Facility with Help of CDFI Loan Fund
Client: SAY Sí
Client Location: San Antonio, TX
CDFI: BlueHub Loan Fund
CDFI Service Area: National
Community facility financing, with support from the Finance Justice Fund
Founded by a neighborhood association, SAY Sí is the city’s only tuition-free, year-round program offering arts education. Their afterschool arts and cultural programming includes visual arts, filmmaking, and theater opportunities. Serving more than 3,425 youth annually, SAY Sí’s strong focus on peer-to-peer mentoring helps students develop critical leadership skills. In an area with a 40% poverty rate, 100% of SAY Sí’s students — the majority of whom are Latino and first-generation college students — graduate from high school and are accepted to college.
SAY Sí began its programming in 1994, serving the Westside neighborhood of San Antonio. Over the past 25+ years, they have expanded to become a leading Latino-led creative youth development organization, committed to creating a premier, inclusive, dynamic, and nurturing educational environment for San Antonio’s youth through creativity, leadership, equity, and community.
When SAY Sí needed financing for the acquisition and rehabilitation of an existing program space, they turned to BlueHub Loan Fund for support. BlueHub Loan Fund provided $3.6 million in loans and New Markets Tax Credits to help bridge a city grant and support their capital campaign raise.
“SAY Sí has been an organization that was always rooted in community and made a commitment to serve the most vulnerable youth. Our plans for expansion and growth were halted due to the pandemic. We are grateful for BlueHub and other Community Development Financial Institutions [CDFIs] who recognized our mission and values and supported our efforts to grow our campus. The future now looks more hopeful for the community that we serve,” said Jon Hinojosa, SAY Sí’s president and chief innovation officer.
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