UALR and its local partners received one of only 21 highly competitive Promise Neighborhoods planning grants announced Sept. 21 by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. UALR was one of only three higher education institutions to receive the grant.

Julie Hall, director of UALR’s University District Educational Network, said the $430,000 grant will help create Central Little Rock Promise Neighborhood. The area is bounded by Interstate 630 on the north, Boyle Park on the west, Fourche Creek Bottoms south, and Martin Luther King Drive on the east. UALR and other grant recipient will create plans to provide cradle-to-career services that improve the educational achievement and healthy development of children.

The grant will focus on students who attend Bale, Franklin, and Stephens elementary schools; Forest Heights Middle School; and Hall High School.

The start-up grant will give UALR and its partners a year to plan for a program aimed at replicating the kind of private-public partnerships that made the Harlem Children’s Zone a model to provide children in the neighborhood “whatever it takes” to raise them up from babyhood to college.

“The goal is to use the Harlem Children’s Zone approach to make sure a kid growing up in these targeted Little Rock neighborhoods gets everything they need to have a shot at getting a great education — great schools, great health care, recreation, afterschool programs, and family support — anything it takes,” Hall said.

“A child deserves to have every opportunity to achieve his or her potential, and that opportunity begins with education,” said U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor. “These funds will help UALR’s Promise Neighborhoods project provide students with the support they need to succeed in the classroom and lay the foundation for a bright future.”

UALR will be the lead agency in the effort, partnering with the city of Little Rock, Little Rock School District, the Central Arkansas Library System, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and New Futures for Youth. Local matching funds will come from the city of Little Rock, the Little Rock Housing Authority, and the Riggs Benevolent Fund. They all provided cash matches. UALR and the Little Rock School District are providing staffing and facility support.

“This is wonderful news for the students in the Little Rock School District,” Superintendent Linda Watson said. “We know that our children and community will greatly benefit from the Promised Neighborhood Project.”

Said Scott Gordon, executive vice president of Arkansas Children’s Hospital, said, “Arkansas Children’s Hospital is proud to be an active partner in the planning process and we look forward to working in coalition with the many partners in this initiative to positively promote health, wellness and academic success for young people.”

City Director Ken Richardson, the city’s official representative on the Promise Neighborhood team for Little Rock, said, “This designation is one clear example of the collaborations and partnerships necessary to improve the outcomes for children, youth, and families. It also illustrates the unique aspects of the 12^th Street Corridor and University District revitalization plans that recognize we have to focus on human capital revitalization as well as physical infrastructure revitalization.”

Don Ernst of the Central Arkansas Library System said the Promise Neighborhood plans will dovetail with the CALS plans for children.

“The Promise Neighborhood model is consistent with our vision for the Children’s Initiative (CI) and the new Children’s Library and Learning Center,” he said. “The CI will focus on providing academic, social, green, and healthy enrichment for the children of Little Rock through after-school and summer programming.”

Grant recipients were announced at 1 p.m. Tuesday at a news conference in Washington by U.S. Secretary Duncan, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and Director of White House Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes.

“Communities across the country recognize that education is the one true path out of poverty,” Secretary Duncan said. “These Promise Neighborhoods applicants are committed to putting schools at the center of their work to provide comprehensive services for young children and students.”

The planning grants of up to $500,000 will support the work in a diverse set of communities in major metropolitan areas, small and medium-size cities, rural areas, and one Indian reservation. President Barack Obama has requested $210 million in his fiscal 2011 budget, including $200 million to support implementation of Promise Neighborhood projects and $10 million for planning grants for new communities.

The 21 Promise Neighborhood grantees are:

Abyssinian Development Corporation ( New York)
Amherst H. Wilder Foundation (St. Paul, Minn.)
Athens Clarke County Family Connection, Inc. (Athens, Ga.)
Berea College (Clay, Jackson, and Owsley Counties, Ky.)
Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Cheyenne Nation (Northern Cheyenne Reservation, Mont.)
California State University – East Bay (Hayward, Calif.)
Cesar Chavez Public Policy Charter High School (Washington, D.C.)
Community Day Care Center of Lawrence, Inc. (Lawrence, Mass.)
Delta Health Alliance, Inc. (Indianola, Miss.)
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (Boston)
The Guidance Center (River Rouge, Mich.)
Lutheran Family Health Centers (New York)
Morehouse School of Medicine, Inc. (Atlanta)
Neighborhood Centers, Inc. (Houston)
Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission (Los Angeles)
United Way of Central Massachusetts, Inc. (Worcester, Mass.)
United Way of San Antonio & Bexar County, Inc. (San Antonio, Texas)
Universal Community Homes (Philadelphia)
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Westminster Foundation (Buffalo, N.Y.)
Youth Policy Institute (Los Angeles)

To address the challenges faced by students living in communities of concentrated poverty, Promise Neighborhoods grantees and their partner organizations will plan to provide services from early learning to college and career, including programs to improve the health, safety, and stability of neighborhoods, and boost family engagement in student learning.

More than 300 communities from 48 states and the District of Columbia submitted applications for Promise Neighborhoods planning grants.

“I congratulate all the Promise Neighborhoods applicants and the hundreds of other communities that are creating great schools and strong support systems for our children,” Secretary Duncan said. “We encourage all communities with bold and innovative proposals to continue their important work, and we are hopeful there will be future opportunities for the Department to provide implementation grants and new planning grants.”

Winning Promise Neighborhoods applications reflect deep partnerships among community-based organizations, service providers, schools and districts, colleges and universities, cities, local leaders and others.

“Well-coordinated investments and actions at the local level can generate significant change and positively impact opportunities for children,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a written statement. “To build communities of opportunity, residents must feel safe to live, learn and go about their business. We look forward to continuing working with our partners in support of this innovative initiative.”

Because of the great potential for Promise Neighborhoods to revitalize communities in need, it is closely linked to the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, which seeks to align federal housing, education, justice, and health programs with the overarching goal of transforming neighborhoods of concentrated poverty into neighborhoods of opportunity.