| Notes |
he success of our approach has garnered the attention of community and government leaders nationwide and inspired a number of federal initiatives. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, then-Senator Barack Obama pledged to create a comprehensive anti-poverty program inspired by the HCZ model to help improve the outcomes of children in distressed communities. In 2010, President Obama made good on his pledge, launching the Promise Neighborhoods program as part of his Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative.
The Promise Neighborhoods program is overseen by the U.S. Department of Education and provides federal funding to distressed communities to help them build cradle-to-career pipelines with high-quality, data-driven educational, community, health, and social services to support children and families and significantly improve their outcomes. Since its launch, more than 850 applications for funding have been submitted from 48 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico. In total, over $270 million in planning and implementation grants has been awarded to 48 communities in 24 states and DC.
To help ensure the success of grantees, HCZ partnered with PolicyLink and the Center for the Study of Social Policy to create the Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink. Together, we conduct policy and advocacy work for the Promise Neighborhoods program and provide assistance and support to communities that have received grants, as well as others that scored high on the applications, but did not receive federal funding.
Promise Neighborhoods is just one of a cluster of anti-poverty initiatives that the Children's Zone® has helped inspire. In 2010, the Obama administration also launched the Choice Neighborhoods program under the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Choice Neighborhoods focuses on revitalizing public and HUD-assisted housing to promote economically sustainable, mixed-income communities. And, in January 2014, President Obama announced a new Promise Zones Initiative to help create jobs and increase economic security in 20+ communities through greater access to resources and strong federal partnerships with local business and community leaders. Of the first five Zones selected, three are also Promise Neighborhood implementation grantees; another eight Zones were announced in April 2015 and nine final Zones were announced in June 2016, bringing the total number of communities impacted by the Initiative to 22.
As a national model and critical source of guidance for struggling communities across the country, HCZ has consistently provided and will continue to provide a wealth of evidence for effective strategies to end generational poverty. |