Education Land Use Framework

Community
City of Denver
Services
Capacity Building
Year
2019
Status
In Progress

Central to Radian’s work is the acknowledgement that quality, community-led education is a defining factor in a child’s health, well-being, and opportunities to thrive; representation in the development and leadership of schools matters; and new educational models are foundational to life-long creativity, resilience, and problem-solving for students. Radian works with and alongside Denver schools with the understanding that traditional school environments cannot always meet every child’s specific needs, disproportionately impacting students of color.

As community leaders set out to develop new quality schools to meet the needs of the full diversity of Denver students, Radian is supporting them with land use and real estate technical assistance in the development of their new school visions. With a pipeline of new community-led charter schools, Radian assists each school operator on a case-by-case basis to identify and prioritize specific neighborhoods, parcels, and real estate assets in Denver tailored to the development of education facilities that align with their visions.

Radian’s Education Land Use and Real Estate Framework considers both where school operators are in their planning process and what their projected needs are to help find the most appropriate location for their new school. This includes working through an iterative process that includes operator interviews, enrollment studies, geospatial neighborhood assessments, real estate analyses, and community engagement to better identify the most suitable opportunities for prospective schools.

 

Photo credit to Freedom School.