The Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood is a community wide effort to ensure all children succeed in school and in life.St Paul is one of 21 communities across the nation selected to receive a Promise Neighborhood planning grant from the US Department of Education. St Paul received a $500,000 phase one planning grant with $250,000 in matching funds and in-kind contributions from local community partners.
The Promise Neighborhood effort was inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City, a community based interlocking network of services for children from birth through college. The Harlem Children’s program has received national acclaim for its success in closing the achievement gap.
“Developing an action plan, that is the heart of the Promise Neighborhood,” said Hamilton Bell, project director of SPPN in a May 5th, 2011 St Paul Promise Neighborhood community event at The Wilder Foundation at 451 Lexington Ave in St Paul.
To achieve this mission, the SPPN Advisory Board which includes public officials, Saint Paul Public School staff and community residents organized Solution Action Groups (SAGs), which met five times between January and March of 2011.
The six SAGs, are Early Childhood, chaired by Barbra Yates of Resources for Child Caring; Elementary School, chaired by Zong Vang of Jackson Elementary, Middle school, chaired by Elona Street Stewart of the St Paul Public School Board, High School, chaired by Fue Vue of Vue Law Office, Post Secondary chaired by community member Mary K Boyd, and Community, chaired by community resident Charles Ellis.
According to a SPPN community assessment, the greatest concerns for community are safety, crime and violence, drugs and education.
“There are four concerns about a promise neighborhood; safe neighborhood, safe schools, quality schools and after school programs,” Bell said.
The St. Paul Promise Neighborhood encompasses a 250 block area in the Summit-University and Frogtown neighborhoods. Two public elementary schools, Jackson and Maxfield are targeted to become full service community schools, providing students, families and community members with additional services.
“Over half of all caregivers, regardless of demographic, said they needed initial training to get a job, or to achieve job advancement,” said Muneer Karcher Ramos the community assessment lead researcher, SPPN.
This initiative seeks to ensure parents are empowered to help their children be successful in school; to make sure that children enter grade school ready to learn, to strengthen measuring programs for youth and to support learning outside of school all year long.
Transportation, time conflicts, and cost of participation are the top barriers these goals face. In the Summit University and Frogtown neighborhoods, nearly 32% of residents are younger than 18; two thirds are low income with 89% being eligible for free reduced lunch.
“45% of the households earn less than $18,000 a year. The overall poverty rate is 36%. About 15% of the primary caregivers are grandparents or other relatives. In addition, over 1,000 vacant house holds are in this 250 square block area,” Ramos said.
The effort is managed by Wilder Foundation in collaboration with the City of St Paul; Frogtown Neighborhood Association, Ramsey County, Saint Paul Public Schools, Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation, Summit University Planning Council and YWCA Saint Paul. Financial and in kind support is provided by: 3M Foundation; F.R.Bigelow Foundation, Otto Bremer Foundations, Greater Twin Cities United Way, The McKnight Foundation, Excel Energy Center, Wells Fargo, Travelers, and Securian Foundation.
To find out more information, contact Paul Mattessich at 612 280-2710, or Hamilton Bell at 651 280-2060. You can also visit www.wilder.org/promiseneighborhood.html
