LIIF Leaders & Elected Officials Celebrate Wilcox Academy's New Facility in New Orleans

LIIF's Natasha Dowell and Mindy Koplon Binderman were in New Orleans earlier this month for the ribbon-cutting of the Wilcox Academy of Early Learning, LLC in Central City.

Natasha and Mindy joined founder Rochelle Wilcox, and Jessica Taylor, national director of the One Million Black Women initiative at Goldman Sachs, which committed a $20 million loan to LIIF to provide capital to early care and education providers. They stood alongside local elected officials, including United States Representative Troy Carter.

Wilcox Academy is the fourth facility opened by founder and CEO Rochelle Wilcox, who began her efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to provide needed child care capacity to her recovering community. This latest facility is poised to meet both the community's unmet demand for child care seats and affordable housing. Research shows that New Orleans needs nearly 7,000 seats of subsidized early child care, plus at 49% higher than the national average, housing eats up a major part of the budget of the city's residents.

Harnessing the power of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC), LIIF provided Wilcox Academy a $2.75 million, eight-year, low-interest 3.5% Brighter Futures Fund loan to construct a new center-based facility co-located with four units of affordable housing.

Jessica aptly summed up the significance of the occasion, remarking that "We know real progress takes all of us. It takes the public and the private sectors, working side by side."

Indeed, the story of Wilcox Academy has been a case study in the power of enduring, long-term capital partnerships that support projects from start to finish. In fact, LaToya Kyle, Vice President for Lending based in Atlanta, participated in Wilcox Academy's groundbreaking back in 2024.

From its earliest conception to its final completion, Wilcox Academy is poised to have tremendous positive impacts on its community. LIIF couldn't be a prouder partner and is thrilled to see Rochelle Wilcox's vision take off!