Why Promise Neighborhoods?

Promise Neighborhoods is a $30 million federal grant program through the United States Department of Education, but it is also an approach driven by a vision, inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone. The vision of the program is that all children and youth growing up in Promise Neighborhoods have access to quality schools and strong systems of family and community support that will prepare them to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and a career. The goal of DOE with this funding is to improve academic and developmental outcomes for children in areas of concentrated poverty, and for those communities by identifying and increasing the capacity of eligible entities focused on achieving results for children and youth throughout an entire neighborhood, cradle to career.

Why Evansville Promise Neighborhood?

Consistent with DOE’s goals, Evansville Promise Neighborhood was conceived to advance the following pipeline goals:

• Pipeline Block 1. – Early Health and Education
• Pipeline Block 2. – Student Achievement and Success
• Pipeline Block 3. – Post-secondary Education Access
• Pipeline Block 4. – Neighborhood and Community Revitalization

Specific results expected from the Evansville Promise Neighborhood include kindergarten readiness, proficiency in core academic subjects, successful transitions from middle to high school, high school graduation, postsecondary education/credential attainment, health and safety, stable communities, family engagement, and access to 21 st century learning tools.

How will Evansville Promise Neighborhood achieve these goals?

While the grant will not fund all entities doing valuable work in the Evansville Promise Neighborhood, MOU partners will provide targeted, evidence-based solutions to advance the pipeline goals including the following:

1. Early childhood home visiting
2. High-quality early childhood education
3. Free early literacy resources for families
4. Free adult learning programs for parents and caregivers
5. Prenatal and early childhood medical care
6. Chronic absenteeism and dropout prevention programs
7. High-quality, in-school academic support programs
8. High-quality, outside-of-school-time programs
9. School social work services
10. High School Equivalency and Job Skill Support
11. Post-secondary preparation, coaching, and exploration programs
12. Workforce readiness preparation, coaching, and exploration programs
13. Neighborhood-based employment and job skills assistance
14. Access to and distribution of health resources, nutrition education, and healthy food
15. Family stability programs
16. Neighborhood revitalization
17. Community safety and violence prevention

EPN Partner Agencies

The following table lists all EPN partner agencies, the services they will provide, and their match committed to EPN initiatives. The grant application required at least a 1 to 1 match overall (not per partner). The match amount listed includes personnel, volunteer time and effort, as well as other in-kind support services the partners will provide to EPN residents. An organization may match more (or less) than it receives. Budget Allocations from the grant to the agencies cannot be shared at UE this time.

Hope of Evansville and Youth Build are also MOU partners but were not able to provide match due to federal guidelines.

What does the grant fund?

The DOE is very specific on required outcomes for Promise Neighborhoods. There are 5 academic-focused results, 5 family and community-focused results, as well as Project Outcomes, Performance Indicators, and 4 Pipelines to target. The grant does not fund all entities doing valuable work in an area. Interventions must be evidence-based, targeted at required outcomes, supported in the research as a best practice, and targeted at the identified neighborhood. In addition, as the continuous improvement plan unfolds, there may be services missed or new needs identified requiring us to bring on additional partners. There is some flexibility built into later years for that process to occur. The pipeline of services and outcomes chart is included at the end of this summary.

Where is the Evansville Promise Neighborhood?

Our Promise Neighborhood includes the census tracts shown below, and these six schools: Evans Elementary School, Delaware Elementary School, Lincoln School, Bosse High School, Lodge Community School, and Glenwood Leadership Academy. Schools and census tracts were selected after a careful review of school and neighborhood data based on areas of most concentrated need within the Promise Zone.

Where can I read the detailed narrative?

Read Evansville’s full proposal. You can also read the abstract version. As always, Evansville’s EPN proposal is up on the DOE website along with the other awarded neighborhoods. Those can be found on the Office of Elementary Education website.

Who do I contact with questions or with ideas about getting involved?

Questions can be directed to EPN@jdzruiran.com.

What is UE giving in a match?

UE will support the Promise Neighborhood team from a variety of positions: CIC, CIE, Youth Programs Camp Offerings, Corporate and Foundation Relations support, Fiscal Affairs, the Toyota Mobile Innovation Lab, and more. This is largely work individuals in these departments would conduct in the neighborhood as part of their current strategic offerings. However, now the work can scale with the benefit of additional support and targeted funding.

Organization Chart

Required GPRA Indicators