According to Catalyst Chicago, “Chicago communities and social service agencies are making a pitch for part of $10 million in federal planning grants for Promise Neighborhoods, the Obama Administration’s initiative to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone. The 20 planning grant winners will be announced in September. Chicago could conceivably have multiple winners, says department spokeswoman Elizabeth Utrup, since there is no limit on the number of planning grants for each city. “The Promise Neighborhood program is intended to significantly improve educational and developmental outcomes of all children in the most distressed communities. The program is intended to have a transformative impact on these communities.
Seventeen Illinois organizations have applied for the planning grants. The Neighborhood focus is indicated in parentheses.
· ASPIRA, Inc. of Illinois (Humboldt Park)
· Beacon Hill Preparatory Academy (Harvey, IL)
· Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Albany Park)
· Brand New Beginnings (Washington Park)
· Chicago Commons Association (West Humboldt Park)
· Chicago State University — College of Education (Far South side)
· Children’s Home & Aid Society of Illinois (Englewood)
· Goodcity (Austin)
· Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Inc. (Logan Square)
· Masonic Educational Community Service
· Peace and Education Coalition of Back of the Yards (Back of the Yards)
· Puerto Rican Cultural Center
· SGA Youth & Family Services (Roseland)
· Southwest Organizing Project (Chicago Lawn)
· The Springfield Project (Springfield, IL)
· Tutoring for Excellence, Inc. (South Shore)
· Zion Development Corporation (Rockford, IL)
The one-year planning grants will support the development of a plan to implement a Promise Neighborhood. At the end of the planning period, grantees are expected to have developed a feasible plan to implement a continuum of solutions that will significantly improve results for children in the community being served. Services should include coordinated efforts to support improved services to children, their families and communities, improved academic programs and stronger schools, an analysis of the relationship between particular strategies and student outcomes, and a rigorous evaluation of the process. The Department of Education hopes to conduct future competitions for implementation grants, contingent on the availability of funding.
Competition will be stiff for the final grant. The Obama Administration has said it plans to create just one Promise Neighborhood in each of 20 cities, and initially proposed $210 million for the initiative for fiscal year 2011. But a Senate appropriations subcommittee on July 27 gutted that proposal, reducing it by 90 percent to $20 million. Earlier, a House appropriations subcommittee cut funding to $60 million.
Although programs like the Harlem Children’s Zone are expensive, a recent study found that students made significan academic gains, eliminating the achievement gap between its black students and the city average for white students in the mathematics state achievement tests.
Posted By: Paul Adams
Friday, August 20th 2010 at 12:16PM
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