Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Friday, June 25, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Intense support
Promise Neighborhoods is modeled after Harlem Children’s Zone, a successful, multiyear initiative. It starts with “baby college” for new parents, and supports children with intensive programs through preschool and into the program’s K-12 Promise Academy and until they graduate college.Sun archives
- Special session politics might be at play in ‘Race to the Top’ approach (2-17-2010)
- No constituency left unscathed (2-17-2010)
- State lawmakers to draft bill to qualify for federal grant (12-16-2009)
- Nevada out of ‘race’ for innovation funding (11-14-2009)
- For shot at a jackpot, state must ante up, alter law (10-25-2009)
Sun Coverage
Beyond the Sun
Southern Nevada has long struggled to build a sense of community, and now a crossroads of sorts is approaching.
A new federal grant program appears to be tailor-made for the Las Vegas Valley — hundreds of millions of dollars to help at-risk children succeed in school and life, with a cradle-to-college approach.
But the program, known as “Promise Neighborhoods,” requires a massive commitment from the wider community. To get the money, everyone — from the private nonprofit organizations to the Clark County School District to higher education to municipalities and public agencies — will have to work as a team.
Unlike the Race to the Top grant competition, in which individual states compete against each other, the Promise Neighborhoods application’s lead author must be either a nonprofit or faith-based organization, or an institution of higher education. That means community leaders, not K-12 public school officials, must steer the ship.
The competition is stiff: Nearly 1,000 organizations nationwide have notified the U.S. Education Department they intend to apply for the planning grants, which amount to as much as $500,000 for each group. But only 20 Promise Neighborhoods will be fully funded by the feds. The full grants will be awarded next year.
No one from Nevada is on the feds’ preliminary list, but 100 Black Men of Las Vegas President Larry Mosley said the group would be submitting its application by the June 28 deadline. Its proposal was drafted in collaboration with North Las Vegas, United Way of Southern Nevada and 100 Academy of Excellence charter school. The application has the support of the Clark County School District, Superintendent Walt Rulffes said. Successful applicants will either have to partner with local public schools or have the capability to operate their own campuses.
Promise Neighborhoods is modeled after Harlem Children’s Zone, a successful, multiyear initiative that targets children and families in the New York neighborhood.
In essence, a net of support services — medical, educational and social — has been dropped over a 100-block radius. The program started in 1997 for just 24 blocks.
The program starts with “baby college” for new parents, and supports children through preschool and into the program’s K-12 Promise Academy. Students — and their families — will be supported through intensive programs until they graduate from college.
The results so far have been both measurable and astonishing: On recent standardized tests, students in the Harlem Children’s Zone outscored their peers in more affluent areas statewide, also eliminating the long-standing achievement gap between black and white students, a problem that persists nationwide. This year, 90 percent of the program’s 12th graders graduated and are headed to college.
With one of the nation’s worst track records for graduation and dropout rates, the goals of the Promise Neighborhood “fit nicely with who we are as an organization,” Mosley said. “This is about strategic planning and alliances, to partner the public and private sectors and hopefully do a better job for Southern Nevada.”
The organization’s recent success with its Shots for Tots, which brought together nearly 20 community partners and vaccinated more than 24,000 children, gave 100 Black Men confidence that the Promise Neighborhoods grant wasn’t beyond its grasp. The local organization has a track record of successful mentoring and outreach programs over its 10-year history, and was named chapter of the year for two consecutive years by 100 Black Men’s national office.
But even Mosley admits there are significant hurdles to overcome. Clark County might not yet have the infrastructure necessary to support an actual Promise Neighborhood, Mosley said.
Even if the planning grant application is not successful, the process is worth the effort, Mosley said.
Rob Lang, co-director of the Brookings Mountain West Initiative at UNLV, agreed.
“We have to start somewhere,” said Lang, who is also a professor of sociology at the university, on loan from the think tank’s Washington headquarters. “The success here could be the process of engagement, not necessarily winning a particular grant.”
East Coast communities have an infrastructure of community groups with long histories and connections, while “there has not been that history of community engagement in this region,” Lang said. “Part of it is the newness — a lot of the energy went into just building this place.”
The Lincy Institute at UNLV, which was created in August to serve as a resource to help local nonprofit groups identify and apply for federal grants, would likely be a part of Promise Neighborhoods later in the process, officials said.
Three Square president and chief executive Julie Murray said the regional food bank is also interested in participating.“This one is too important for us not to come together and pursue it,” Murray said. “It can’t be just Three Square or the Lincy Institute or UNLV — it’s going to have to be all of us together.”
Communities in Schools of Nevada opted not to apply for the grant because of the time it required with no guarantee of a payout, Director Louise Helton said. It was decided the time and resources would be better spent on the organization’s current programs, such as the campus-based health centers that serve thousands of children annually. But the group “definitely” intends to be part of a team effort for the full grant, Helton said.
Elaine Wynn, who heads the national Communities in Schools executive board, said Nevada, sadly, is well positioned for the federal grant race, both for Promise Neighborhoods and the better-known Race to the Top.
If Nevada’s dismal track record for student achievement “doesn’t qualify us for needing triage more than any other state in the nation, I don’t know what does,” Wynn said.
Despite those dreary statistics, she hasn’t seen what she called a key component to Nevada actually turning itself around: outrage.
“There’s isn’t enough public outcry, there isn’t enough furor,” said Wynn, who serves on the governor’s blue-ribbon panel that drafted the state’s Race to the Top application. “People have been in denial about how serious this crisis really is, and they’re still in denial.”
Wynn said she worries too many people are trying to “reinvent the wheel” with the various federal grant programs, which would bring badly needed funds to local schools. There are pockets of success throughout Southern Nevada, and the focus should be on taking those to scale, Wynn said.
“You should go to school, be guaranteed a good teacher and an effective principal, be able to go to college, and it should be equitable,” Wynn said. “How unreasonable a demand is that?”
I've always been fascinated
with the law, sir.
Really? What areas?
All areas. Personal privacy,
noise statutes....
I'd planned to go to law school
after I graduated, but...
...my folks won't have enough money
to put me through college.
The world needs ditch-diggers, too.
" {
more bleeding heart liberal spending.
This preschool to college type program is incredibly expensive and have mixed results (Head Start - a preschool only program - was deemed a failure by Health and Human Services for example). Charter schools, and to a larger extent vouchers and tax-credits, do a far better job for less money.
Nevada is in desperate need of Promise Neighborhoods. You can travel throughout the state of Nevada and see the need. Elaine Wynn has summed it up correctly that people are in denial about the situation. The number of Title 1 schools have increased in Nevada over the last 10 years, and there is no sign of declining thanks to the economy and current cuts in education and services. Children are coming to school without the support system that they need from home (about a fifth of them come to school in need of visual, dental, and medical services critical to them being able to function daily in class).
Promise Neighborhoods will encourage an awakening and movement towards addressing the problems that impede a child's/family's success by compelling all stakeholders to work together towards conquering barriers/impedements. I truly hope that Nevada has an opportunity to participate in Promise Neighborhoods, it would make a positive difference in the lives of so very many by bringing the community together focused on the healing and repair of individual members.
Journey the graduation rate of students using the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship was 91 percent - these are all low-income inner city kids. Cost - averaged $6,600 per pupil, less than the $28,000 cost of public schools in D.C.
Interestingly the Harlem program uses 3 charter schools (not mentioned in this article). Unfortunately, Nevada's education establishment is notoriously hostile to charter schools. A study by Caroline Hoxby showed that going to charters from K-12 in NYC eliminated much of the poor-rich achievement gap. Graduation rates were also 12 points higher for charter school students than traditional school students.
From Cradle to College sounds like an awfully expensive proposition. Realistically - how much will it cost?
Patrick Gibbons: You're correct, the Harlem Children's Zone does use charter schools. Here's a link to more information about them:
http://www.hcz.org/programs/promise-acad...
davidwayneosedach: The Harlem Children's Zone reports that its annual operating budget is about $76 million, which includes about $5,000 per year per child for education (slightly more than what the Nevada Legislature currently provides for each student in Clark County). However, that does not include the multitude of wraparound services and programs provided by the Harlem organization's many partners.
It's difficult to estimate the cost of replicating the program locally until the actual planning proposals are made public, and we know how many students and community groups might be involved.
"From Cradle to College sounds like an awfully expensive proposition. Realistically - how much will it cost?"
As long as the feds are paying for it with that Magic Printing Press, who cares?
It's long past time to let people make it on their own. Cut welfare, special programs, section 8 housing allowance, AFDC, food stamps, EITC, and on and on. CUT SPENDING not increase it with yet another welfare program. We've made wimps of our citizens. It's high time for citizens to grow a backbone on their own accord.
I'm very sorry Ms. Wynn, I thought that Nevada was not another extension of Harlem's historical value to the culture of America. Your volunteering for head of something is very special for you however; the west is historically more jackrabbits, sandstorms, and yes discrimination in the early 1960's. However, if you listen to NPR, today there is still discrimination in the use of American Indian names that are sacred to the American Indians such as Thunderbird as in the Home of the Thunderbirds, the Chiefs, as in the Kansas City Chiefs. Education is a defense against poverty. The Sister's of St. Joseph at the Motherhouse at Concordia had a luncheon discussion on this same theme this week. However they did not mention that education does not include separating children from their parents and loading them into cattle trains and trucking them across the Nation to a better life where the females could become housekeepers and sexual toys for the males of the house. Today this is occurring to those same persons who were instigators of the abuse suffered by the females of the tribes and the female children should not be paying for their families past behaviors because they are innocent so laws are passed. Were laws passed punishing those who separated the children from their parents putting them into the hands of slave status. No. Soooo, Ms. Wynn, what are you volunteering for today that is not discriminating at today's prices.
Just like NY, Clark County has one of the largest school districts in America. One word: Corruption.
"Nevada's education establishment is notoriously hostile to charter schools. "
Patrick Gibbons, your extremist ideology has become apparent to those who read these comment boards.
I've never noticed any general hostility to charter schools here - which presumably I would have if it was "notorious," since I pay attention to news and work in the CCSD.
I applied for a job at a charter school some years ago, and it's still in business. Since then, I believe new charters have opened. I never noticed any hostility from CCSD toward charter schools.
There are always people who don't like change, and there may be individuals who don't like the idea of charters, but to imply that there is some kind of district-wide conspiracy against them seems pretty deceptive to me. No doubt you can come up with some kind of "facts" to support yourself, but since your bias is always apparent, "facts" that you cite are always questionable.
"Graduation rates were also 12 points higher for charter school students than traditional school students."
This is an example of how you use facts. The implication is that charters are doing a better job than traditional public schools - but you fail to acknowledge that you are comparing apples to oranges, as traditional public schools must accept anyone and everyone, while charters will have a select group of students who have chosen specifically to be there and have presumably agreed to behavior contracts that public school students have not had to agree to.
The true "anti" may be you, who are seemingly anti-public education. Public=bad, private=good is a simplistic ideology that may appeal to some R-J editors and others with simple minds, but it is not exactly a panacea for the majority of citizens.
And before you begin to pretend that teachers are all against charters, I'll dispel that myth. Bring 'em on, please. It wouldn't just work for more students and parents; it would also work for more teachers, who have few employment choices here.
You obviously do know something about schools, but you would have more credibility if your extreme ideology did not get in the way.
And how long did you teach in a public school?
Teacher, I didn't say you were hostile, or that the average teacher was hostile, but that Nevada's leadership was hostile. This is very, very clear.
Nevada has a massive burden on reporting requirements for charter schools, including major application requirements that result in 500 page applications. Every small change must go through the NDE and can take months to process. The NDE wants to know all teacher resumes, independent contracts with private companies, and all of this on top of the annual audit. In all I counted up 32 different reports that must be filled -- some multiple times a year (not including reports on fire drills, attacks, lockdowns etc).
These bureaucratic requirements are in place to drag charter schools down and make Nevada a less attractive place to open charter schools. It also makes it less likely that anyone will want to sponsor charters as well (which is why for a time there was a statewide moratorium on charters).
We have less than 30 charters and the NDE is demanding more bureaucrats to manage them. Arizona has over 500 and just 7 bureaucrats managing and overseeing the charter schools.
Teacher,
Those were random assignment studies so they did indeed compare apples to apples. Because there is more demand for charter school attendance than there is seats in a charter school, charter schools are required to offer admission based on lottery (only union run charter schools get the right to ban kids based on poor grades...ironically - see Boston's pilot school program).
Students are thus randomly assigned to a charter and randomly assigned to a public school. Researchers then assess the difference between the two groups. The result is that the longer students remain in charter schools the more they grow, the more likely they are to graduate, the more likely they are to go to college. They are also happier and safer as well (and their parents are more satisfied).
Teacher,
I'm not anti-public education; I'm anti public school monopoly. If public education is about the public helping people get the best education possible why does one side fight against using public dollars to go to charter schools and private schools which clearly do a better job?
Public education SHOULD include options. My view isn't extreme. The extreme view is the idea that a public education monopoly can best serve students and that parents and students should have no choice in where or how they are educated.
PS, there is nothing stopping the school districts from making behavioral or attendence contracts with students. The problem is, when principals try to whip students into shape (and usually teachers at the same time) the school boards run them out of town...
Btw, about 1 percent of kids nationwide are expelled from school every year. Another .5 percent are put in alternative schools.