Neighborhood-Based Initiatives

On April 20, the Department of Education announced the Notice Inviting Applications for the latest round of Promise Neighborhoods planning and implementation grants.  The Department expects to distribute 15 planning grants worth up to $500,000 each and 5-7 implementation grants worth $4 to $6 million each.

The YEF Institute and the Foundation Strategy Group sponsored a recent 90 minute webinar on “Improving Outcomes for Children and Youth through Collective Impact.”  The webinar explored how municipal leaders, staff and partners can maximize results by better coordinating and aligning their efforts to improve outcomes for children and youth.
Register for the free recording | PowerPoint slides

The U.S. Department of Education selected five communities to receive the first round of Promise Neighborhoods implementation grants and another 15 communities to receive a second round of planning grants. The five-year implementation grants of up to $30 million and the one-year $500,000 planning grants will help recipients and their partners build a continuum of “cradle-to-career” services for improving student achievement in high-poverty neighborhoods.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and White House Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes joined hundreds of neighborhood leaders from across the nation in Washington, D.C., on July 21-22 to discuss how the emerging White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI) can help transform neighborhoods of concentrated poverty into communities of opportunity.

On July 6 2011, the U.S. Department of Education announced the Notice Inviting Applications for a new round of Promise Neighborhoods planning and implementation grants.  This program supports place-based initiatives in distressed neighborhoods to ensure that children and youth have access to a continuum of cradle-to-career educational programs and family and community supports.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded $10 million in Promise Neighborhood planning grants to 21 nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions.  The one-year grants of up to $500,000 will support the development of collaborative, community-based plans for improving educational and developmental outcomes for children in high-poverty neighborhoods. 
List of grantees | Promise Neighborhoods initiative

A toolkit on Preventing Gang Violence and Building Communities Where Young People Thrive draws upon lessons learned over three years from the California Cities Gang Prevention Network, a 13-city network sponsored in collaboration with the National Council on Crime and Delinquency to identify strategies for reducing gang violence and victimization.  A chapter on Strategic Partnerships highlights a number of neighborhood-based violence prevention initiatives.
Full toolkit (PDF) | Marshalling funding chapter (PDF) | Strategic partnerships chapter (PDF) | Targeted approaches chapter (PDF) | California Cities Gang Prevention Network 

This toolkit draws upon lessons learned over the past three years from the California Cities Gang Prevention Network, a 13-city network sponsored in collaboration with the National Council on Crime and Delinquency to identify strategies for reducing gang violence and victimization.  One of the toolkit chapters focuses on strategic partnerships developed between city leaders and local neighborhoods.
Full toolkit (PDF) | Strategic partnerships chapter (PDF) | California Cities Gang Prevention Network 

The YEF Institute's first-ever report on The State of City Leadership for Children and Families identifies the nation's most cutting-edge city strategies to help children and families thrive.  Several chapters highlights the broad range of innovations and trends in municipal leadership around developing effective neighborhood-based initiatives. 
Full report (PDF) | Local infrastructure for children and families chapter (PDF) | Afterschool chapter (PDF) | Youth violence prevention chapter (PDF) 

This strategy paper highlights comprehensive, citywide gang prevention initiatives in San Jose, San Bernardino, and Santa Rosa, Calif. These strategies are derived from lessons emerging from the California Cities Gang Prevention Network.

The platform identifies the "essential infrastructure" needed for sustained progress on behalf of children, youth, and families, and offers a menu of ideas and action steps that cities of any size can take in each of seven issue areas.

More tools and resources on neighborhood-based initiatives

Join a YEF Institute Peer Network

Looking for ways to learn from and share ideas with city officials in other communities? The YEF Institute's peer networks provide exciting forums for discussing key local challenges and opportunities. Current networks include:

Afterschool Policy Advisors Network (APAN) | Early Care and Education City Network | Education Policy Advisors Network (EPAN) | Family Economic Success Network (FES) | Municipal Network on Disconnected Youth (MNDY) | Municipal Network for Combating Obesity (MNCO) | Youth Participation Advisors Network (YPAN)

Network members receive periodic e-mail updates, invitations to special conference calls and events, and other opportunities to interact with peers and colleagues from across the nation. 
Subscribe to one or more peer networks

NLC and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) have initiated a network of 13 major cities in California to combat gang violence and victimization.  The California Cities Gang Prevention Network, the first of its kind in the nation, focuses on building broad-based, cross-system teams to develop successful policies and practices that interweave prevention, intervention, enforcement and a community's "moral voice" as an alternative to prison-only solutions.