A local nonprofit plans to submit an application to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction on Friday to establish an all-boys charter school in Wilmington. 

If approved, it would become the first all-boys charter school in North Carolina, according to state officials. 

Rob Campbell, CEO and founder of Wilmington-based New H.O.P.E. CDC and pastor of New Beginning Christian Church, is spearheading the project alongside former New Hanover County Schools superintendent Charles Foust, who has been designated to serve as the school's superintendent.

The proposed school, New Hope Tech Prep, will be located at 920 N. Sixth St., the current location of Purpose Church International. To be considered for a 2028 opening under the state's standard timeline, charter school applications are due today at 5 p.m. and include a $1,000 application fee.

The proposed charter school is intended to address the disparities highlighted in a 2025 N.C. Department of Public Instruction study of New Hanover County Schools, which found that white students earned higher proficiency and college- and career-readiness scores than students of color. 

"We have a major problem," Campbell said. "A third of our students are not doing well."

Campbell said the effort is intended to help close the "achievement gap" for boys of color, although the school will be open to students of all races in New Hanover and Brunswick counties.

"So often we look at problems, and we think that everybody is trying to fit into this one mold, and we don't fit," said Campbell, "but we aren't willing to change the system because it's working for the majority."

"What we're hoping to do with New Hope Technology Prep Academy is, one, we are raising the rigor of the academics and two, we are raising the esteem of the students," said Campbell

Campbell estimates the cost of purchasing the building from Purpose Church International at $1.8 million, with an overall $6 million budget over the next five years to launch the school. Campbell said the church building has been on the market for over a year and that the church was approached by a buyer who planned to demolish it.

The school's application to the Department of Public Instruction includes around 300 letters of support from parents, businesses and community members, Campbell said. 

Once the application is submitted, a decision is expected by August, and if approved, the all-boys school will serve students from 9th through 12th grade. Campbell hopes to start with 95 enrollees, just over the state's minimum enrollment requirement of 80 for charter schools.

Following approval, the school's board will be required to complete a planning year with the Department of Public Instruction's Office of Charter Schools. Campbell estimates that the school's doors could open by August 2028. 

"I grew up knowing that education was the equalizer, and I still believe that it is the great equalizer," Foust said at an April interest meeting. 

New Hope Tech Prep will heavily feature STEM classes and trade programs, Campbell said, with a dual-enrollment process for 11th-grade students to begin taking classes at Cape Fear Community College to earn their associate's degrees. Tuition would be free. 

Campbell is hopeful for a collaborative funding process, he said, with community partnerships in place, grants and some state funding. 

"If the parents don't engage, we can't win. If the community doesn't engage, we can't win," he said. 

"I want (the students) to know that the community is behind them," Campbell added, "because we're going to make them get behind the community."