PEMBROKE PINES, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Andre Agassi, tennis champion and co-managing partner of the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund, joined leaders from Franklin Academy Pembroke Pines along with elected officials, students and parents today at a ceremony to celebrate the middle and high school campus and the school’s partnership with the Turner-Agassi Facilities Fund.
As part of the ceremony, Andre Agassi and school leaders unveiled a new statue of Benjamin Franklin prominently displayed in the school’s sports field. The statue was created by award-winning sculptor George Lundeed, a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar who studied at the Academia de Belle Arte in Florence, Italy.
The 125,000-square-foot campus – built from the ground up – is home to Franklin Academy Pembroke Pines middle and high school and features specialty rooms for band and art, computer and science labs, athletic fields, jogging paths, and a state-of-the-art gymnasium with an elevated indoor running track. The site was developed by the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund, an innovative, mission-driven investment fund that provides resources and real estate expertise to high-performing charter school operators across the nation, enabling them to access top-quality facilities.
Located at 5000 SW 207th Terrace in Pembroke Pines, Franklin Academy’s Pembroke Pines middle and high school campus currently educates nearly 1,400 students in grades 6-11. Franklin will welcome its inaugural senior class next year.
“We are so grateful for our partnership with the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund,” said Scott Sznitken, Executive Director of Florida Charter Foundation, Inc. “Turner-Agassi has given us access to a gorgeous campus containing everything our students need to learn, grow, and thrive.”
Securing high-quality, long-term facilities is often the greatest impediment faced by charter school leaders. The Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund provides resources, development experience and a passion for educational excellence to help top school operators focus on their first priority: helping students succeed. Turner-Agassi takes the lead in site selection, acquisition, design and construction for new school facilities, which are then leased back to school operators, who can purchase their schools once they reach full occupancy.
“Franklin Academy is home to passionate students and dedicated educators, and we are thrilled to help provide them with the top-quality facility they deserve,” said Bobby Turner, the fund’s Co-Managing Partner and CEO of Turner Impact Capital. “The Turner-Agassi mission is to enable high-achieving charter schools to focus on their most important task – educating the next generation – while we focus on providing the facilities they need to make that happen.”
Founded in 2014, Turner Impact Capital is an acknowledged leader and innovator in the growing field of social impact investing – an investment approach that takes into account two goals: generating positive, risk-adjusted financial returns and creating purposeful, measurable, and positive social or environmental impact through those investments.
A joint venture of Turner Impact Capital and Agassi Ventures, Turner-Agassi is backed by a world‐class group of institutional investors who share a commitment to effecting positive societal change in urban centers across the United States. To date, the fund has developed 79 schools across the country, serving 41,600 students in such communities as North Philadelphia, Newark, the Bronx, Southwest Detroit and North Las Vegas, among many others.
“Each child deserves the opportunity to receive an excellent education without being held back by the lack of proper facilities,” said Andre Agassi, the fund’s Co-Managing Partner and CEO of Agassi Ventures. “This beautiful, 40-acre campus and the equally great team at Franklin Academy ensure that these students have the ability to achieve their highest potential.”
Turner-Agassi is positioned to develop an additional 85 schools serving another 49,000 students by 2020. Franklin Academy Pembroke Pines middle and high school campus is the third Franklin campus developed by Turner-Agassi. Previously, the fund worked alongside Franklin to open schools in Cooper City and Boynton Beach.
“Franklin Academy offers students a world-class education and we are thrilled to see middle school and high school students thriving on the Pembroke Pines Middle/High School campus,” said Glenn Pierce, President of Education Initiatives at Turner Impact Capital. “By harnessing market forces, we’ve scaled a sustainable educational solution that benefits thousands of students and families in Florida and across the nation. We are proud to partner with Franklin Academy here in Pembroke Pines.”
Franklin Academy charter schools, operated under Florida Charter Foundation, Inc., has embraced the ideology of the International Baccalaureate Programme, which empowers students to develop into inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people. Franklin Academy aims to create an atmosphere to support student success within the classroom as well as develop student skills that are essential for success beyond the classroom walls to ensure students are college and career ready.
About the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund
The Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund is the nation’s largest fund solely designed to accelerate the growth of high-performing, urban charter schools. Since its inception in 2011, the original fund and its successor have developed 79 schools serving the needs of 41,600 students throughout the United States. With dedicated funding from preeminent social impact investors, the fund is expected to open an additional 85 schools serving 49,000 students by 2020. For more information, please visit www.turnerimpact.com.
