Tennis champion Andre Agassi joined with Rocketship Public Schools Tennessee, the Turner-Agassi Education Facilities Fund, educators, students and parents today for the opening celebration of Rocketship Dream Community Prep, a beautiful new charter public school campus in Nashville.
Rocketship Dream Community Prep currently serves over 350 students in kindergarten to 4th grade, incorporating music to bring learning to life. The 37,000-square-foot campus is located in Antioch, and includes 19 classrooms, two learning labs, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, turfed outdoor soccer field, and more.
The tuition-free public school was developed for Rocketship by the Turner-Agassi Education Facilities Fund, a mission-driven social impact investment fund that provides resources and real estate expertise to high-performing charter school operators across the nation. Enrollment is open to all families living in Nashville-Davidson County and free school transportation is available to those in the Southeast part of the county.
A festive ribbon-cutting ceremony with students, teachers and parents was held today to welcome the state-of-the-art facility, Rocketship’s third school in Nashville. All three schools have been developed for Rocketship by Turner-Agassi.
“While the construction team was hard at work bringing our physical school to life, our families had a parallel project underway to build the heart of our school – our school community,” founding Principal Jessica Alexander said. “Our parents advocated for approval to open this school, chose the school’s name, and even helped interview our teachers. Rocketship Dream wouldn’t exist without the families who helped us build it from vision to reality.”
Rocketship Dream Community Prep welcomes and celebrates students from a variety of diverse backgrounds, religions, and cultures. The school provides students with a holistic education that encourages critical thinking and confidence building. Students in kindergarten-2nd grade have the opportunity to join a choir, and students in 3rd-4th grade can learn the violin or the hand drums. The school’s core values include responsibility, respect, empathy, persistence, and harmony.
“Rocketship Public Schools has a truly impressive track record of empowering students to benefit from an outstanding, tuition-free education – leading to stronger families and communities as well,” said Bobby Turner, the Fund’s Co-Managing Partner and CEO of Turner Impact Capital. “We are thrilled to partner with Rocketship to deliver this learning-friendly campus in Nashville, underscoring once again the lasting benefits of well-designed social impact investing.”
Rocketship Public Schools is a nonprofit network of high-performing public elementary charter schools serving disadvantaged communities across the country. The group launched in 2007 with a vision to eliminate the achievement gap in every community it serves. Through its high-performing public-school model, Rocketship propels student achievement, develops exceptional educators, and partners with parents who enable high-quality public schools to thrive in their community.
“Our mission at Rocketship Public Schools is to unleash the full potential of each individual child, regardless of their family’s income, zip code, or background,” said William Hill, Executive Director of Rocketship Tennessee. “With both of our first two campuses recognized as Reward Schools by the State of Tennessee, we are excited to bring the same level of excellence and opportunity to families in Southeast Davidson County with this third campus.”
Securing high‐quality, long‐term facilities is often one of the greatest impediments faced by charter school leaders. Turner‐Agassi provides resources, development experience, and a passion for educational excellence to enable top school operators to focus on their first priority: helping students succeed.
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 and delivered 120 schools for leading charter school operators throughout the United States, creating over 59,000 seats for students.
“Every student has the right to a first-rate education to help open doors later in life. That includes a safe and inspiring environment in which to learn,” said Andre Agassi, the Fund’s Co-Managing Partner, CEO of Agassi/Graf Holdings, and the Chairman of The Board of the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education. “Rocketship Public Schools does an amazing job creating opportunities for students, and I’m excited to help welcome this wonderful new campus to serve even more students and families in Nashville.”
Turner-Agassi supports schools 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. Operators often obtain permanent financing to purchase the schools using tax-exempt bond offerings.
Rocketship and Turner-Agassi have partnered together to develop other school facilities in Washington, D.C.; San Jose, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Fort Worth, Texas.
“Our Fund is dedicated to helping the very best charter school organizations scale up and grow in order to expand their positive impact to reach even more students, families and communities,” said Glenn Pierce, Turner Impact Capital’s President of Education Initiatives. “It’s extremely rewarding to help Rocketship put even more young people on a path to long-term success in college and careers, while making a long-term investment in the Antioch community.”
Turner-Agassi is managed by Turner Impact Capital, one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing investment firms dedicated to social impact. Since opening its doors in 2014, Turner Impact Capital has made significant investments to address three core challenges: K-12 public education, affordable workforce housing, and outcome-based healthcare in underserved urban communities. In total, these investments have directly impacted more than 150,000 lives across the nation.
About the Turner-Agassi Education Facilities Fund
The Turner-Agassi Education Facilities Fund, managed by Turner Impact Capital, is the nation’s largest market-driven real estate fund dedicated to accelerating the growth of high-performing, urban charter schools. The Fund enables more students to attend great schools by developing learning-friendly facilities for best-in-class charter school operators. Since its inception in 2011, the Fund has developed and delivered 120 schools creating over 59,000 seats for students throughout the United States. For more information, please visit https://www.turnerimpact.com/.
About Rocketship Public Schools Tennessee
Rocketship Public Schools is a nonprofit network of high-performing public elementary charter schools serving disadvantaged communities across the country. The organization launched in 2007 with a vision to eliminate the achievement gap in every community it serves. Rocketship Dream Community Prep is the third campus to join Rocketship Tennessee. The first two schools in Nashville have both been named Reward Schools by the Tennessee Department of Education — the state’s highest recognition for student performance and progress. Rocketship United Academy, the most diverse school in the Rocketship Tennessee region with students coming from 50 different countries, was ranked the #4 charter elementary school for student achievement in the state of Tennessee by U.S. News & World Report. Through its high-performing public school model, Rocketship Public Schools propels student achievement, develops exceptional educators, and partners with parents who enable high-quality public schools to thrive in their community. Visit rocketshipschools.org to learn more.
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