Last month, the LISC Charter School Financing team provided a $1 million loan to Amber Charter Schools to support the renovation of a 68,000 square- foot building for its third and newest school in Inwood, New York. The school will open in fall 2021 and serve grades K-8. At full enrollment, the school will educate 923 students. LISC has partnered with Amber Charter Schools before. In January 2020, Amber Charter Schools was one of twenty six schools selected for a Spark Opportunity Grant. Amber Charter Schools used the grant to engage with an architect during the predevelopment phase of this project. LISC also made its first loan to Amber Charter Schools way back in 2004 for the acquisition of its first school building in East Harlem.
Amber Charter Schools was the first Latino-led public charter school in New York City. It was founded in 2000 by the Community Association of Progressive Dominicans (ACDP). The school initially opened with a single campus, Amber Charter School East Harlem. In 2016, Amber opened a second school in Washington Heights. The school was moved to its permanent location in the southwest Bronx the following year, now called Amber Charter School Kingsbridge.
Amber offers a dual language program, with instruction in Spanish as a second language from grades K-5, in addition to an academically rigorous common core curriculum in literacy, math, science, and social studies. Amber also offers enrichment in art, music, physical education, and technology. Amber students have outperformed local traditional district school peers and the state on state exams for English and Math for the past three years. Amber enrolls 98% students of color and serves a higher percentage of the Black and Latinx population than its resident local districts. 81% of Amber students come from households earning income below the national average, and 16% qualify for special education services. LISC looks forward to continuing to support Amber Charter Schools.