(December 21, 2012) U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced 17 winners of the 2012 Promise Neighborhoods $60 million grant fund during a school safety speech at Neval Thomas Elementary School in Washington, D.C.
“Children must be safe, healthy, and supported by adults across an entire community to reach their fullest potential,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “Against all odds, Promise Neighborhoods work to provide families and children with the support they need to help break the cycle of poverty that threatens too many of our nation’s communities.”
Promise Neighborhoods, first launched in 2010, is a community-focused program that funds local-led efforts to improve educational opportunities and provide comprehensive health, safety, and support services in high-poverty neighborhoods. To date, Promise Neighborhoods funding totals nearly $100 million awarded to over 50 communities representing more than 700 schools. To help leverage and sustain grant work, 1,000 national, state, and community organizations have signed-on to partner with a Promise Neighborhood site, including over 300 organizations supporting 2012 grant winners.
“For three years now communities have been demonstrating the power of organizing their work around providing each child in their neighborhood with the support they need from cradle through college and career,” said Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation Jim Shelton. “This year’s planning and implementation grantees, and many of the applicants, exemplify the collective impact non-profits, cities, and other partners can have when they work together.”
Awards announced today are split between 10 planning grants totaling more than $4.7 million and 7 implementation grants totaling nearly $30 million. Remaining 2012 funds will go toward second-year funding for the 5 implementation grantees awarded in 2011. Planning grantees will each receive one-year awards of up to $500,000 to create targeted plans for combating poverty in the local community. Implementation grantees will receive awards up to $6 million to fund the first year of a 5-year grant to execute community-led plans that improve and provide better social services and educational programs.
Neval Thomas Elementary is a school served by the D.C. Promise Neighborhood Initiative (DCPNI), one of today’s seventeen 2012 grant winners. DCPNI will receive a five-year implementation grant totaling around $25 million to provide wraparound services and community support to families across 4 schools and their communities: Neval Thomas Elementary; Kenilworth Elementary; Chavez Parkside Middle School; and Chavez Parkside High School.
A complete list of 2012 grants follows. Award amounts reflect first-year funding with additional years subject to congressional appropriations. Among the winners are 5 implementation grantees that will build on previous work funded through 2010 or 2011 planning grants: D.C. Promise Neighborhood; Los Angeles Promise Neighborhood; Mission Promise Neighborhood in San Francisco; Indianola Promise Community in Mississippi; and Chula Vista Promise Neighborhood in California.
Promise Neighborhoods is one of the signature programs of the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, which supports innovative and inclusive strategies that bring public and private partners together to help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. It encourages collaboration between the U.S. Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Treasury and Health and Human Services to support local solutions for sustainable, mixed-income neighborhoods with affordable housing, safe streets and good schools.
Additional information on the Promise Neighborhoods program and 2012 winners is also available here.
| 2012 Implementation Grants | Location | Award |
| Boston Promise Initiative | Boston and Roxbury, Mass. | $1,485,001 |
| Chula Vista Promise Neighborhood | Chula Vista, Calif. | $4,998,609 |
| East Lubbock Promise Neighborhood | Lubbock, Texas | $3,263,789 |
| Five Promises for Two Generations (DCPNI) | Washington, D.C. | $1,967,748 |
| Indianola Promise Community | Indianola, Miss. | $5,997,093 |
| Los Angeles Promise Neighborhood | Los Angeles, Calif. | $6,000,000 |
| Mission Promise Neighborhood | San Francisco, Calif. | $6,000,000 |
| 2012 Planning Grants | Location | Award |
| Adams County Promise Neighborhood Initiative | Adams County, Wis. | $499,997 |
| Camden Cooper Lanning Promise Neighborhood | Camden, N.J. | $499,654 |
| Cypress Hills Promise Neighborhood | Brooklyn, N.Y. | $371,222 |
| The Everett Freeman Initiative | Corning, Calif. | $499,766 |
| Langley Park Promise Neighborhood | Langley Park, Md. | $500,000 |
| Many Flags Promise Neighborhood | Rockland, Cushing,Owls Head, St. George,Thomaston, and
South Thomaston, Maine |
$348,169 |
| Newark Fairmount Promise Neighborhood | Newark, N.J. | $498,772 |
| Ogden United for Promise Neighborhoods | Ogden, Utah | $498,301 |
| Promise Heights, A Promise Neighborhood | Baltimore, Md. | $499735 |
| Rogers Promise Neighborhood Project | Marshalltown, Iowa | $495,984 |
Cross-posted from the ED.gov Blog.
