Franklin Cummings Tech

Franklin Cummings Tech (FC Tech) is one of New England’s oldest engineering and industrial technology colleges. FC Tech’s vision is to develop diverse tech talent and support its graduates in building generational wealth through their careers.

It has been remarkably successful in accomplishing this: most of FC Tech’s students are students of color, 46% are first-generation college students, and while the average household income for incoming students is $33,000, the average salary for graduates just one year post-graduation is $51,700.

FC Tech's two-year technical and trade education is a rich, transformative experience for our students that results in economic advancement. We work with industry partners to ensure that the skills we teach are exactly what is needed in today’s workforce, which makes our graduates job-ready – and very often already working with an employer – when they leave us.

FC Tech's modern curriculum teaches students renewable energy, green building practices, heat pump installation, electric/hybrid vehicle repair, cyber security, and soon, biotech. By preparing students to thrive in these industries, FC Tech graduates are set on a path to fulfilling and well-paying careers. This creates a foundation for them to start building generational wealth, partaking in homeownership, and prospering in an economy to which they are also contributing.

FC Tech is proud to provide career-oriented higher education to commuter students, many of whom qualify as low-income. 75% of FC Tech’s student body identifies as people of color, with 30% identifying as Latino and 29% as Black – and it is the only college in Massachusetts where most students are men of color.

84% of recent FC Tech graduates report securing full-time employment in their field or have decided to continue their education. In May 2023, the school graduated 300 technicians, the largest graduating class in a decade. Its on-time graduation rate is 52%, which is higher than any other two-year college in Massachusetts.

FC Tech’s current three-building campus, built in 1908, is in the South End, an affluent, majority-white neighborhood of Boston, MA. To best prepare students for modern technology careers, FC Tech is selling its existing campus and embarking on the construction of a new LEED Gold certified, 68,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Roxbury’s Nubian Square, a neighborhood that has long been the center of Black culture in Boston.

FC Tech’s move to its new campus demonstrates the power of a multi-faceted, collaborative financing approach to support a community-centered organization in reaching a major organizational milestone.

NFF's $8 million loan will support FC Tech's efforts to build its new campus, designed to provide a modern and supportive learning environment for current and future generations of scholars. NFF’s financing is part of a $38.5 million debt financing structure that includes five additional lenders: The Property and Casualty Initiative, The Life Initiative, Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, Low Income Investment Fund, and Cambridge Savings Bank. In addition to the debt financing, there is also New Markets Tax Credit financing, funding from private foundations, a grant from the City of Boston, and FC Tech equity.

We needed a creative and innovative financing solution to build our new campus in Nubian Square. NFF and our partner organizations met this challenge and helped us build a unique capital stack that allowed us to move forward and break ground on our new campus last March. We are excited to move to our new building in 2025 and are grateful to each of these organizations and our other partners for making this possible.

FC Tech’s new campus will enhance its ability to provide students and faculty with a high-quality, cutting-edge teaching and learning environment with access to state-of-the-art labs, classrooms, and a garage for internal combustion and electric cars. With a rooftop learning lab and exposed structures, the new building will also offer hands-on teaching tools for students studying HVAC and construction.  

Many of FC Tech’s students call Nubian Square home, and the move to this new location will show the community that education is accessible and possible – and that the pathway to learning and fulfilling careers can be just steps away from home.    

“Having a new FC Tech campus right in the heart of Boston’s historically Black neighborhood, which is also home to diverse communities, will instill pride in our alumni and inspire prospective students. And we look forward to becoming a foundational part of Nubian Square’s transformation into a thriving educational, entrepreneurial, and cultural center in Boston and New England,” says Dr. Francis.

With its dedication to investing in historically underserved communities, FC Tech has a few words of wisdom for organizations committed to creating lasting community impact:

“You need to provide members of a community – especially communities that have been historically underserved – with something that empowers them, transforms their lives, and allows them to give back to their communities. This creates generational change in communities, such as the ability to build wealth and share prosperity with their families, experience homeownership, own a business, and inspire their children to pursue education. This is how organizations can extend the impact of their mission over time and across a community.”

Learn more about how NFF partners with organizations in the charter school and education sector.

Read about NFF’s commitment to fostering community wealth and well-being.