FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2015
EB-5 Investment Coalition Responds to Washington Post Editorial, Underscores Economic Imperatives for Reauthorization
Greg Wing, President and CEO of the Education Fund of America, LLC, penned the following letter to the editor in response to the Sept. 6th Washington Post editorial, “It’s time for the corporate visa giveaway to go away,” to set the record straight on the far-reaching economic impact the EB-5 Regional Center program is having in communities around the country across a variety of industries.
Regarding your Sept. 6th editorial, “The Visa Giveaway:” I founded an EB-5 Regional Center to exclusively use EB-5 funding to build charter schools throughout the U.S. and can say with conviction that the program has had a significant and positive impact in local communities of all kinds.
EB-5 has helped us build charter schools in states including Texas, Florida, Utah and Arizona; we are now working on our 20th school. One of our most successful projects, Champion Schools in South Phoenix, flourished against tremendous odds – rising from a “C-rated” school to an “A-rated” school and earning the designation of “Charter of the Year” by the Arizona Charter School Association in 2013.
Our schools make a quality education possible for thousands of students, many in disadvantaged areas, and create jobs – including more than 300 teaching and support positions in Arizona alone. If Congress abandons the EB-5 program, which provided vital capital when traditional lenders would not, many of these jobs and opportunities will disappear overnight.
Quite the opposite of a “corporate giveaway,” EB-5 is driving growth and creating opportunities where it is needed most. It would be a costly mistake to let it expire.
Sincerely,
Gregory Wing
President and CEO of the Education Fund of America, LLC; Co-founder and principal of Green Card Fund, a USCIS-approved EB-5 Regional Center in Arizona.