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Promise Neighborhoods Resources

Students Teachers Small Promise Neighborhoods, inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone, are the Obama administration’s bold bid to break the vicious cycle of inner-city intergenerational poverty. If the Neighborhoods succeed, they could provide compelling evidence that an integrated, education-centered approach to ending poverty can give poor children a real shot at economic opportunity. A generation of America’s underprivileged children awaits the outcome. How can all of us help?

harlem-neighborhood-small The Bridgespan Group believes that the best way to ensure success of the initiative is through ongoing conversation that integrates a wide range of views. To that end, we've created this collection of resources, both from Bridgespan and other sources. As a starting point, we recommend you read the three pieces listed below. They provide various perspectives on how the Promise Neighborhoods initiative might best achieve its goals. We also invite you to add your own comments.

VIEWPOINTS ON INITIATIVE DESIGN

BRIDGESPAN'S POINT OF VIEW

Realizing the Promise of Promise Neighborhoods

OTHER PERSPECTIVES

Focusing on Results in Promise Neighborhoods (Harlem Children's Zone, PolicyLink, Center for the Study of Social Policy) [PDF]
Recommendations for a National Children's Anti-Poverty Program Inspired by the Harlem Children's Zone (Harlem Children's Zone, PolicyLink) [PDF]
Tipping Neighborhoods to Success (Alliance for Children and Families, United Neighborhood Centers of America) [PDF]

RESOURCES

MORE ABOUT HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE

OTHER NEIGHBORHOOD INITIATIVES

BRIDGESPAN'S NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING RESOURCES

Zeroing in on Impact
Costs are Cool
Business Planning for Nonprofits
An Approach to Strategic Planning ("Changing the Odds" Conference Presentation) [PDF]
Promise Neighborhood Sample Analytics [PDF]

OTHER PLANNING RESOURCES

Promise Neighborhoods: A Planning How-To Guide (United Neighborhood Center) [PDF]
Organizational Capacity Self Assessment (McKinsey & Company)

How can we ensure the success of Promise Neighborhoods?
With your help!
Submit your ideas here.

Other funds and topics

Fund Type

Social Innovation Fund

Related Topics

RECENT COMMENTS

"What if even 10 of the 20 adopted similar goals, set up a network which actively compared notes and leveraged success (and failure) and emerged with a real model for change?" Read More >>

Ken Bubp
Conner Prairie Interactive History Park

"As communities work to create Neighborhoods of Promise, the implementation should be driven at the local level." Read More >>

Donna Coleman

"While outcomes should be standardized and the lessons about what has worked should be carefully considered and understood, we must allow regions the flexibility to develop/design Neighborhood models that fit the needs of their specific communities." Read More >>

Blair Taylor
LA Urban League

"The risk is that the promise of this initiative will get lost in the scramble for federal money that will be awarded to only 20 communities." Read More >>

Marguerite Kondracke
America's Promise Alliance

"We at Communities In Schools are committed to playing our part in the Promise Neighborhoods’ success." Read More >>

Daniel Cardinali
Communities in Schools

This work by The Bridgespan Group is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Bridgespan's Terms of Use page.