GHURA to build first new school campus in a decade

The following is a news release from GHURA:

The Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority (GHURA) announces a groundbreaking ceremony for the Construction of the iLearn Academy Charter School. The event will be held this Friday, June 11, 2021 at 10:00am in Dededo, and will take place on the property site off of Route 16, 1700 Mendioka Lane Dededo, Guam.

GHURA has entered into a 20-year loan for $12M with the non-profit The Learning Institute (TLI) for the construction of Guam’s first new school campus in over ten years. The full project cost is $32M. GHURA funding for the loan was made possible by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program.

“It’s been too long since a new school campus was built on Guam so the Leon Guerrero/Tenorio Administration is extremely excited about this project. Unlike most of GHURA’s community development projects, our contribution to date has been more focused on the financing mechanism under a federal program that was previously not available to the insular areas. We love exploring unchartered waters for the benefit of our island community.” said Ray Topasna, GHURA Executive Director.

GHURA is eager to see the start of this project which, when put into service, will benefit the children of low- and moderate-income families and ensure their access to a quality charter school education. The new campus will allow for growth up to a maximum of 900 students to be educated by iLearn, providing STEM-oriented education to children kindergarten to 5th grade. Completion is expected to coincide with start of the new school year in August 2022.

“GHURA anticipates even more groundbreaking and ribbon cutting events over the next few months as construction activity starts to pick up again. Stay tuned Guam.” added Topasna.