Baton Rouge, LA. (Feb. 12, 2015) –New Schools for Baton Rouge (NSBR) announced today that it is investing $900,000 in HOPE Christian Schools from its Excellence Fund. HOPE plans to open a total of four schools, serving 1,000 students in grades K-12 by 2022. HOPE is preparing to launch its first school as early as Fall 2016. NSBR’s board voted to make the investment after reviewing HOPE’s leadership, transformational school model, growth plan, and plans to engage the local community. HOPE is the first nonpublic school to receive an investment from NSBR’s Excellence Fund.“We are excited to welcome HOPE Christian Schools to Baton Rouge and provide the families of North Baton Rouge with another excellent school choice,” said Chris Meyer, CEO of NSBR. “HOPE schools have a track record of success. For the past three years, 100% of HOPE’s seniors were accepted into college. They are a great addition to our network of excellent schools as we work to ultimately deliver great schools, both public and nonpublic, to 12,000 students in underperforming schools in North Baton Rouge by 2017.”“HOPE is pleased to partner with NSBR to bring the students of North Baton Rouge our school model, which focuses on character and academic performance,” said Dr. Andrew Neumann, President and CEO of HOPE Christian Schools, Inc. “Our schools are designed to put students on the path to college from day one through our model which integrates a focus on academic excellence, character development and faith formation. We do this through providing strong leadership and passionate teachers, creating a positive and nurturing culture for learning, and using data to drive purposeful instruction.”HOPE Christian Schools is a network of five Christian, college-preparatory schools in Milwaukee’s central city that opened in 2002 with one school and nearly 50 students. Today, HOPE serves nearly 1,600 students in kindergarten (K4 and K5) through 12th grade with the 3 C’s – Christ. College. Character® HOPE aims to launch in areas of unmet educational needs with high at-risk populations. In their current network, 90% – 100% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Across their three K-8 schools last year, HOPE averaged over 1.5 years growth on the Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress assessment and their high school students outperformed the city, state and national ACT average for African-American students.NSBR’s Excellence Fund is a collection of local and national resources to catalyze the transformation of schools in Baton Rouge. NSBR’s top priority is to support the expansion of proven, high-performing schools by investing exclusively in organizations that have track records of success, a transformational school model, and a commitment to the Baton Rouge community.