Located in the severely distressed downtown area of Indio, CA, the College of the Desert (COD) Indio Education Campus Expansion project included the construction of a new 67,000 sq. ft., three-story state-of-the-art building, along with outdoor site upgrades to connect campus buildings and enhance student collaboration spaces. 10,000 sq. ft. of the original campus building also underwent renovations, seamlessly integrating with COD’s new $25 million Indio Childcare Center and School, which was also under development.

The project facility featured an expanded Student Success Center, Public Safety facilities, Student Health Offices, and significantly enhanced instructional spaces, including new classrooms, science laboratories, lecture halls, computer labs, and a Maker Space. The expansion included increased faculty office space, a student dining common, study spaces, and various informal social spaces along corridors, as well as a large outdoor deck on the third level.

The project also enhanced the Sponsor’s plEDGE (Engage, Develop, Grow, and Empower) program, which provides local high school graduates from the greater Coachella Valley with two full years of free tuition, housing, and associated fees at the College of the Desert. The plEDGE program was designed to address student learning and success outcomes for Hispanic, low-income, and first-generation college students who placed below college-level coursework on high school assessment tests.

NMTCs played a crucial role in funding the interior build-out, equipment, and operational programming costs for this project—expenses that state educational bond proceeds could not cover. With limited unrestricted funds available, COD faced significant financial challenges, further exacerbated by the unanticipated and unprecedented funding needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. NMTCs therefore provided a much-needed source of funding, complementing COD’s bond capital and campus cash reserves, and bridging gaps in the overall project build-out, start-up, and academic programming budgets.

NMTCs enabled COD to enhance educational and support services for over 10,000 students annually, of whom 72 percent are minorities, 85 percent are low-income individuals, and 100 percent are low-income community residents. These services provided essential wrap-around support, empowering students to pursue post-secondary education and achieve academic success. The project created and retained a total of 80 full-time employment (FTE) jobs. Of the permanent jobs created and retained, 59 percent were pay average wages of $30/hr plus a suite of benefits.