$10 million appropriation gets program underway (May 2010)
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At the time, we rated the promise In the Works, since the proposed 2010 budget included a $10 million appropriation for the Department of Education to launch the program. We wanted to see how much money Congress would end up giving the DOE before issuing a final ruling.
Since then, some key developments have taken place. Promise Neighborhoods is now an official grant fund overseen by the Office of Innovation and Improvement within the DOE. Congress ended up appropriating $10 million for the initiative during 2010. According to department website, "the program is intended to significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of all children in our most distressed communities, including rural and tribal communities." It plans to do so by providing one-year grants to eligible entities such as nonprofits and institutions of higher education which develop a plan to implement a Promise Neighborhood. The plan must contain several core features, which include the capacity to collect, analyze, and evaluate data to judge ongoing progress as well a leader and an organization that engages the community and is accountable for the plan results.
According to the Education Department, "In subsequent years, contingent on the availability of funds, the Department intends to conduct competitions for implementation grants, as well as competitions for new planning grants." And just how much funding will the DOE have for Promise Neighborhoods in the future? It's hard to say for certain, but the 2011 budget proposal asks for a $210 million appropriation specifically for the program. According to a fact sheet prepared by the Office of Management and Budget, "The core principle behind this initiative is that combining both effective academic programs and strong health and social service systems can combat the effects of poverty and improve the education and life outcomes of children."
The Promise Neighborhoods program is now an official grant offered by the Department of Education. Congress allocated $10 million for the initiative in 2010, and will have the opportunity to provide substantial increases during the upcoming year.
Promise Kept.
Obama's Urban Policy: Slow Start. Sustainable Finish? (January 2011)
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Some of Obama's urban agenda went unheralded because it was tucked into the federal stimulus bill, particularly in the form of infrastructure improvements under the TIGER program. Aiding cities within the context of a broad $814 billion spending plan may have been unsatisfying to urban advocates who wanted a Marshall Plan for cities, but it was an easier political lift than approaching urban areas separately. "I think they saw an opportunity to fold some of these things in," Moroz says of the administration. "That was looking down the road and seeing that some of these things might be tough to get done on their own."
Now other, more ambitious and distinctly urban programs are getting underway.
Under the umbrella of Obama's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, there is HUD's Choice Neighborhoods housing program, the Department of Education's Promise Neighborhoods antipoverty program, a crime prevention initiative run by the Justice Department and health clinics and mental health support coordinated by Health and Human Services. A separate initiative aims at developing “regional innovation clusters” that build off a metro area's natural strengths to make them better places to work and live; the departments of Commerce, Labor and Education and Small Business Administration are in on that.
The Partnership for Sustainable Communities, meanwhile, links HUD, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. The partnership is as logical—one agency does housing, another builds transit that the housing should be near and the third aims to protect the environment that housing and transit both impact—it marks a break from the policy “silos” that usually separate federal agencies and their turfs.
“Ultimately, this approach will make communities more prosperous by making them more attractive places for businesses to locate and for young people to remain or move to,” the agencies reported in a round-up of their first year in partnership. “Sustainable communities allow people to live closer to jobs and save money on personal transportation, usually the second largest household expense and sometimes the largest for low-income Americans. Neighborhoods that make it easy to walk or bike to work, school, stores, parks, and other destinations help people stay healthy by incorporating regular exercise into their daily routines. Sustainable communities also reduce air and water pollution and protect treasured landscapes and prime agricultural land.”
more (February 2011)
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The new Main South Promise Neighborhood Partnership had a “neighborhood launch” yesterday as more than 200 community residents, members of local organizations and businesses, city officials and elected representatives packed Tilton Hall at Clark University.
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The Main South partnership could be eligible for $10 million to $20 million in federal investments, so yesterday was also a day to get down to work. At round-table discussions throughout the hall, various facilitators sat with residents to ask them what they would they like to see done differently in their community.
“I am the happiest guy in the world today,” said Timothy J. Garvin, president and CEO of the United Way of Central Massachusetts, as he watched the discussions taking place. “Everyone is participating and contributing to the advancement of a common goal.”
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After seeking applications last year, the federal Department of Education awarded Promise Neighborhood planning grants to 21 organizations nationwide. Among those was the United Way of Central Massachusetts for its proposal to form a Main South Promise Neighborhood Partnership with Clark University, Worcester Public Schools, the Main South Community Development Corp., and several other agencies and community-based organizations. The grant is worth about $456,000, but requires raising matching money of $250,000.
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