Overtown Youth Center Expansion

Overtown Youth Center Expansion

Location: Miami, Florida

Project Description & Impact: Replacement of existing facility and new construction of an economic empowerment center.

Client: Florida Community Loan Fund (CDE), and Central States Development Partners (CDE)

Financing Tools Used: NMTC Financing

The Story Behind this Project

The Overtown Youth Center was founded in 2003 to inspire and empower at-risk, low-income youth and families by fostering hope through a variety of after-school career exploration, college readiness, case management and arts enrichment programs. Nearly all – 99% – of OYC youth graduate high school with the majority continuing on to college.

Today Overtown Youth Center (OYC) serves children, youth, and families from a building that has become functionally obsolete and too small to accommodate needed services. Using New Markets Tax Credit financing, OYC will replace its existing facility and build a new 62,620 square-foot economic empowerment center. The new center will triple OYC’s capacity, reaching an estimated 2,450 annually – and include a STEM lab, multimedia / technology lab, health clinic, and professional arts training studios.

Upon completion, OYC’s expanded new services and programs will provide job training, homeless and emergency services, dental and medical healthcare, mentoring and employment services, family empowerment support services, education enrichment, and mental health counseling. Construction and operation of the new center will also create or retain up to 176 temporary and permanent jobs.

Florida Community Loan Fund (FCLF) provided $15 million in federal NMTCs, with Northern Trust Bank as investor, and Central States Development Partners provided an additional $4 million in NMTC, with U.S. Bank CDC as the investor. The project aligns with redevelopment goals for Miami-Dade County’s Central Enterprise Zone and Overtown/Park West CRA, and the City of Miami’s Enterprise Zone, through its creation of jobs, health and safety, and improvement of quality of life for area residents.