WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Building Hope, the non-profit leader in charter school facilities, financing, and services, announced Allison Serafin has joined as vice president of southwest operations. Serafin brings more than two decades in experience to Building Hope from her career in education.
In this new role, Ms. Serafin combines her long-standing commitment to public K-12 education with a passion for making it accessible to families everywhere looking for safe, rigorous, and engaging environments that prepare student for the college, careers, and beyond. As Vice President of Southwest Operations, Ms. Serafin will work with charter leaders throughout Texas to create real estate strategies to develop and fund new school facilities to offer families more great public school options. She is a senior member of the organization’s real estate team and will report directly to Building Hope Real Estate President Dru Damico.
“We are delighted to welcome Serafin to the Building Hope family,” said Dru Damico, president, Building Hope Real Estate. “Allison has earned a reputation during the last 20 years as a public school education advocate and change-maker, and she joins us ready to help schools and the communities they serve with expansion strategies to make quality school choice options available and accessible to families.”
“I grew up in Houston, taught at a district and charter school here, and I want to use my experience and leadership to help schools unlock pathways that will enable them to achieve great success,’’ Serafin said. “Growing waitlists across public charter schools in the Houston area, for example, signal that families want more school choice options. I am excited to walk alongside school leaders who want to grow, want to expand, want to scale…and need a facility solution to do so.”
Ms. Serafin began her education career at Teach For America-Houston, where she was a corps member teaching at Attucks Middle School. She went on to serve as the executive director of Teach For America-Las Vegas, supporting the Clark County School District Superintendent as a special consultant, launching Opportunity 180, and serving as an elected member and vice president of the Nevada State Board of Education. She also served as vice president of development for IDEA Public Schools throughout Texas, where she fundraised, managed the region’s real estate strategy and site acquisition process, and secured the first five campus sites for the region’s growth plan.
Most recently, Ms. Serafin worked at Dovetail Impact Foundation (formerly the David Weekley Family Foundation) as its domestic portfolio director. There, she helped launch a refreshed giving strategy and managed a portfolio of more than 60 U.S.-based organizations and their grants across five sectors that included education, justice, livelihoods, health, and spiritual formation.
Ms. Serafin earned her bachelor of science degree in political science from Texas Christian University and a master’s of science in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington.
About Building Hope
Building Hope is a non-profit foundation created to support education and public charter schools. Since 2003, Building Hope has created impact by investing in facilities, financial, and operational services for charter schools nationwide. With Building Hope’s support, schools can devote more resources to educating students in underserved communities. Building Hope has supported over 300 charter school projects and more than 150,000 students in 20 states and the District of Columbia, by providing more than $375 million in direct loans, credit enhancements, and equity investments to support more than $2 billion in school construction. For more information about how Building Hope helps charter schools nationwide with facilities, financing, and operational services, visit www.buildinghope.org.
