Blueprint
Expanding educational opportunities for students in under-resourced communities
President and CEO John Sun joined the Charter Connect podcast to talk about the challenges and opportunities in charter school facilities. John’s thoughtful expertise and vision for facilities is well worth listening to:
📺 http://youtube.com/watch?v=g518XRUYr-Y
🎧 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/81-blueprint-john-sun/id1648141735?i=1000757120792
🎧 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1yYO4vopxl4RoPGqQMKuji
We met with Crystal Langdon.
Crystal Langdon is the Director of Investments at Blueprint, holding many responsibilities in this position. Crystal evaluates if school construction projects are affordable and financially possible. Her role also includes managing a team that finds funding for building schools. The role also oversees investments in school construction projects and monitors them over time to make sure borrowers or tenants follow the agreement, and the project stays financially stable.
Today I learned about different loan types and how interest rates can affect individuals’ decisions on where to get loans from. We learned about how interest rates and loan terms affect the overall cost of a loan, and how to find the best fit that will allow the development of a project.
We got insight into the finance and investment side of real estate development. We learned about how important this role is for Blueprint and how this role is important for all organizations since they have to secure funding in order for development projects to even begin.
After learning about this field, what intrigued me the most was learning about how interesting and important this field is in real estate development, and it has led me to have an interest in pursuing this field.
Cyrus Amani-Taleshi
Cyrus works at LCA, and his company designs buildings; they also oversees the approval process for both large and small projects.
We learn that being an architect is pretty cool and fun if you like to design, but it can also be frustrating sometimes.
I learned that real estate development involves planning, teamwork, and understanding laws and finances. I also learned that projects take a lot of patience and problem solving.
I learn that when architects are designing a building it takes a lot of patience and it can be difficult sometimes.
Today we met with the Colliers team
Colliers works in Harrison Street and are commercial real estate brokers. Colliers help clients in buying, selling and leasing properties. They advise business clients on investments and developing opportunities
I learned how brokers build strong relationships with clients to be able to negotiate deals soothingly. I also learned how their backgrounds and their skills that they learned contribute to their fields.
I learned that brokers play a crucial role in development by connecting investors with properties. They need strong communication skills and the ability to take and manage risks.
What I found most interesting is how brokers use negotiation strategies to make deals go smoothing and how much trusts clients put in them.
Photos: Jose Burgos Arroyo
Today, we met with Mary Grace Houlihan, Jennifer Afdahl Rice, and Michele Wray Khateri.
Mary Grace, Jennifer, and Michele work for Blueprint. Mary Grace is the Northern California Project Director, Jennifer is the Executive Director for Northern California, and Michele is the Director of Fundraising and Strategic Initiatives. Blueprint is a real estate development firm, managing all aspects of facilities projects—site search, design, construction, and financing. Working alongside charter school partners, it has created 55,800 charter school seats and helped improve students’ education.
Today, we learned about the field of real estate development, learning about all the different factors that go into making a single project. We learned about factors like social, economic, and environmental.
I gained insight into the field of real estate development by learning that planning can require buildings to look similar and have a theme, thanks to zoning. I know why now. I would also say that I received more insight into how sites are selected and what factors decide whether they meet the standard or not, for example, the approval of neighbors or the soil (if it has chemicals or if it is not stable enough). Overall, I got to learn many factors involved in deciding if a site is acceptable enough.
After today, what I found most interesting was learning about the background of Blueprint and learning about their impact, learning about how much they have helped communities and allowed students at charter schools to receive an education.
Photos: Chris Bautista, Spring Intern
Today we met with Scott Thomas, who works in financing. Thomas works as a project finance coordinator.
Thomas works in Blueprint. Blueprint is a development firm that helps schools with most aspects of their projects.
Today I learned what a contingency is, which is a safety valve just incase anything unexpected comes up in the project. A highlight was when we got to see the spreadsheet of the budget; it was nice getting to see a real project’s budget and the process. Another highlight I would like to mention was when my peers and I asked Thomas questions; it was really insightful and even let us get a preview into who we would meet next.
During the internship I am now looking most forward to meeting with Blueprint’s lawyer and the other lawyer we will get to meet with.
In the field of real estate development, I gained insights such as what struggles the project finance coordinator faces while communicating with the school. I also received insight into how the finance project coordinator tracks the budget and the different factors that allow the school to stay within their budget affordably.
After today, what I find most interesting about the field is how the project finance coordinator ultimately works as the middleman between the loaners and the school and how they play a key role in allowing the school to meet their financial goal to finish their project.
Photos: Jose Burgos Arroyo, Spring Intern
Blueprint's mission is to dismantle systemic inequality in education by expanding educational opportunities for students in under-resourced communities.
Contact Us
info@blueprintfutures.org
(213) 542-4700 (office)
(213) 542-4701 (fax)
Regions
Southern California (Main Office)
915 Wilshire Blvd, Ste 700
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Northern California
66 Franklin St, Ste 300
Oakland, CA 94607
Washington
1201 2nd Ave, Ste 900
Seattle, WA 98101
Texas
2700 Post Oak Blvd, Ste 2100
Houston, TX 77056
Colorado
4600 South Syracuse St, Ste 900
Denver, CO 80237
