Last month, the White House announced the first five Promise Zones: San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Fifteen more Promise Zones will be designated throughout the country in the next three years. Based on the idea that your ZIP code should not determine your destiny, the Promise Zones initiative will provide local leaders with access to the federal agencies, tools and resources to help communities create jobs, increase access to quality, affordable housing, reduce crime and expand educational opportunities.
Though the Promise Zones initiative does not provide cities with a financial award, designated Zones will work in close partnership with federal representatives and will have preferential access to existing grant programs. Urban, rural and tribal communities with a poverty rates of more than 20% are eligible to be Promise Zones.
In 2010, the Obama Administration began to address place-based approaches to helping distressed communities transform themselves into neighborhoods of opportunity by creating the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI), which engages several federal agencies in support of local solutions to transform neighborhoods. Since the inception of NRI, more than $350 million has been invested in more than 100 high-poverty communities, through programs like Promise Neighborhoods and Choice Neighborhoods grants, the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation grants and the Building Neighborhood Capacity Program.
Transform Consulting Group has worked with the Martindale Brightwood community in Indianapolis on developing a Promise Neighborhood. Contact us today to learn how we can help your organization improve the quality of programs and services, evaluate the success of initiatives, and most importantly, achieve better results!
