NewBridge Cleveland is a healthcare organization that delivers behavioral healthcare through purpose-built healthcare training/education in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes the city of Cleveland. Founded in 2010, the organization assists students to identify and pursue educational and career pathways that lead to personal wellbeing, health, and family sustaining wages. They support career pathways in phlebotomy, cell processing, and medical assisting, along with licensed practical nursing through their affiliate the Central School for Practical Nursing (CSPN). Each year, it receives more than 1,500 applicants for 300 student slots, with no out-of-pocket cost to students.

NewBridge Cleveland is purchasing and renovating a facility in Cleveland’s midtown neighborhood to be the new home for CSPN. The site is closer to the student communities that CSPN aims to serve, as well as to the partner health facilities where students complete their hands-on clinical training. The site is part of a broader arts & technology district being developed by the NewBridge and other local organizations.

To support the CSPN project, Broadstreet committed $6 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), as well $1.8 million in equity from the HCDC Broadstreet NMTC Fund I, which is capitalized by Huntington Bank and managed by Broadstreet. LISC also provided a term loan for the leverage debt in the NMTC to NewBridge to advance the effort.

Without low-cost financing supported by NMTCs, New Bridge would not have the capacity to move forward with this project, bringing jobs, services and economic activity to an area where residents earn just 58 percent of the area median income. In addition to solidifying quality jobs at the school, the new facility will expand the number of students served, grow the region’s health care workforce—a sector facing local employment shortages—while helping graduates achieve prosperity and wellness, as well as long-term prospects, without taking on onerous student debt.