Opened in 2018, UCS is a non-profit PreK-12 charter school in Livingston, Alabama. This small town is anchored by the University of Western Alabama (UWA), and the school currently shares a facility and programming with UWA’s Department of Education. Livingston has a poverty rate of 51.4% and an unemployment rate of 19.2% (2.31 times the national average). As UCS’s enrollment has grown the shared building space has become increasingly insufficient for the school’s needs. To address the growth needs of the community, UCS is constructing a new 70,000 sq. ft. facility that will provide adequate space for PreK-12th grade enrollment.

This NMTC subsidy will provide UCS with the additional equity necessary to build up to six additional classrooms. The expanded facility will allow UCS’ enrollment to increase to 700 students. The expansion will offer 20 general instruction classrooms, all designed to be flexible in nature and positioned to take advantage of adjacent shared collaboration areas. The school will provide offices, conference rooms, areas for student and teacher resources, private counselors’ areas, nurses’ station, 200-250 seat cafeteria, and a Farm to Table Educational Garden. Additionally, the building design includes multiple elective and lab spaces that can house fine arts, visual arts, computer and health sciences, foreign languages career training education, literacy STREAM and various support labs for core curriculum coursework. A special needs classroom and related support spaces are also included in the design.

The newly constructed school will also offer students a full-size gymnasium that can be converted into an auditorium, as well as locker and storage room areas, and weight room.