Yesterday, the Department of Education announced six new Promise Neighborhood winners for the 2016 grant year. Grant winners include organizations in KY, NJ, MS, PA, and CA totaling nearly $33 million in awards.
All of the winners have made a specific commitment to early childhood education. For example, Brea College in California will expand its existing network of early learning providers to ensure delivery of high-quality programs, centered on school readiness, and aligned with state early learning standards. The Delta Health Alliance in Mississippi is using its grant to improve coordination and alignment among early learning and development systems and service providers.
“These grants will provide cradle-to-career support for at-risk children in communities across the country, offering meaningful resources that will help them achieve their potential,” said U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. “Promise Neighborhoods draw on the best of communities, bringing together non-profits, schools, and local institutions to meet the needs of their local communities.”
The Department first launched the Promise Neighborhoods program in 2010 with one simple goal in mind: improve educational and development outcomes of children and youth in our nation’s most distressed neighborhoods. Through innovative place-based strategies and public-private partnerships, the program helps:
- Achieve results for children and youth through an entire neighborhood
- Build complete continuum of cradle-to-career solutions, including education, family, and community supports
- Develop local infrastructure and resource to sustain and scale up place-based solutions
To date, the Department has awarded over $286 million to Promise Neighborhoods, including nearly 700 schools and 1,000 community partners.
Read more about the program and this year’s award winners here.