Some Information on Promise Neighborhood Grant Applicants

Last week, the Department of Education released data on the 339 applicants for the 2010 Promise Neighborhood competitive grant program. Congress included $10 million in 2010 appropriations for Promise Neighborhood planning grants, a particular priority of President Obama. The Promise Neighborhood program is a new program that was first funded in 2010. These grants provide funds to support the development of a plan to implement a comprehensive approach to education in a high-need area that includes a focus on community and family involvement in education. Promise Neighborhoods seek to break down the silo-ed nature of public services in local areas to create a more supportive and synchronized system.

The Department of Education plans to award up to 20 Promise Neighborhood grants ranging from $400,000 to $500,000 under the fiscal year 2010 appropriation that was made last December. These grants, which will support organizations as they plan their Promise Neighborhoods, will last for 12 months. Depending on the further availability of funds, the Department of Education may provide further grant aid that will fund the implementation of projects receiving planning grants.

For the 2010 grant competition, 339 non-profits, institutions of higher education (IHEs) and other organizations applied for grants. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority (260) of the applicants were non-profit organizations. Sixty-two IHEs applied for grants and 17 other types of organizations applied. In most cases, “other” organizations included city governments and school boards.

The Department of Education also identified three “absolute” priorities under which each applicant must apply. The first priority requires an applicant to submit a proposal for how it plans to create a Promise Neighborhood. This proposal must include descriptions of the community it will serve, how it will maintain the programs it implements, and what methods it will use to evaluate its progress. Every applicant must fulfill the requirements of this priority. Applicants that only apply under the first priority must find matching grants equal to 50 percent of their Promise Neighborhood grants. Of the total applicants, 270 applied under only the first priority.

Applicants can also choose to apply under the second or third absolute priorities, given that they also meet the requirements under the first priority. Forty-eight applicants applied from rural communities, qualifying them for the second priority, while 21 applicants applied from tribal communities, qualifying them for the third priority. Applicants under the second and third priorities must find matching grants equal to only 25 percent of their Promise Neighborhood grants.

Organizations applied from all 50 states and the District of Columbia and larger states tended to have more applicants than smaller states. For example, California had 45 applicants and New York had 29. In contrast, only three organizations applied for grants in Iowa and only one applied in South Dakota. Surprisingly, Texas had only 19 applicants, relatively few given its large population size. The District of Columbia, on the other hand, had 9 applicants, significantly more than 37 other states.

The Department of Education expects to announce grant winners in September 2010, meaning they have less than two months to weed through 339 applications and narrow it down to around 20 winners. But for those 20 winners, this grant could be the first step in a major overhaul of how American communities deliver education services.

According to the President’s 2011 budget request, the Obama Administration hopes to make the Promise Neighborhood program more permanent with $210 million in fiscal year 2011 appropriations. However, both the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee bills suggest that this goal may be difficult to achieve – they only provide $60 million and $20 million, respectively, for the program in 2011.