Zeta opens world-class schools in NYC neighborhoods where schools are failing kids.
Zeta opens schools in areas of NYC that are severely under-resourced and where existing schools are failing children. Today, we serve 2,000 children across six campuses in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan where there is immense need for high-quality educational options. Next year, we are growing to serve 2,700 children (35% growth) and opening our first two middle schools.
Our six school campuses are located in NYC community school districts that rank in the bottom third of NYC schools, with Zeta Bronx Tremont Park located in the lowest-performing district in the city. Our Bronx schools are also located in the poorest Congressional District in the nation, where parents are desperately seeking better educational opportunities for their children.
Adequate space in NYC is a massive obstacle to scaling excellent schools.
For years, charter schools largely pursued a co-location strategy, sharing space in traditional public school buildings. Access to such facilities are subject to political winds, and subjects charter schools to many of the arcane rules and practices of an educational system that has condemned the city’s most vulnerable children to educational failure.
But scalable access to private facilities is incredibly challenging due to skyrocketing real estate costs and the need for substantial capital funding.
Zeta deploys a scalable, capital-light facilities strategy to build beautiful schools in areas of great need.
Zeta maximally leverages New York’s facilities funding to build permanent, private facilities for our schools with minimal up-front capital. Low up-front capital is critical in a school’s early years, when startup costs are high relative to available public facilities funding. We partner with landlord-developers who seek anchor tenants in prospective mixed-use projects, and who are willing to build schools to our world-class specifications.
Using this innovative strategy, Zeta has closed five private facilities deals since its founding in 2017, four during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Three of these facilities have already opened: Zeta South Bronx Elementary, Zeta Bronx Tremont Park Elementary, and Zeta Bronx Mount Eden Early Childhood.
Once built, each Zeta school joins and uplifts entire communities.
Each Zeta school prizes strong partnership with its vibrant local community. We build deep relationships with families and community leaders, and join with them in advocating for the community to ensure that every child can access excellent education within one’s own neighborhood.
