A child’s zip code should not determine her destiny, but a growing body of research reveals that the community she grows up in impacts her educational, health, and economic outcomes. From urban centers to rural and tribal communities, areas of concentrated poverty face inferior housing, failing schools, crime, and few employment opportunities.
Earlier this year, the Obama administration laid out an initiative to designate a number of high-poverty communities as Promise Zones, where the federal government will partner with and invest in communities to create jobs, leverage private investment, increase economic activity, expand educational opportunities, and improve public safety. Currently, the draft second round application is open for public comment.
At this event we will release a report that provides an overview of the federal government’s role in place-based initiatives, initial observations from the launch of Promise Zones, and recommendations for strengthening the effort moving forward.
Welcoming remarks:
Carmel Martin, Executive Vice President, Policy, Center for American Progress
Featured speaker:
Cecilia Muñoz, Director, White House Domestic Policy Council
Panelists:
Andrew Frishkoff, Executive Director, LISC Philadelphia
Michael McAfee, Senior Director at PolicyLink and Director of the Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink
Sara-Jane Smallwood, Public Policy and Research Analyst, Choctaw Nation, Oklahoma
Ivy Taylor, Councilperson, District 2, San Antonio
Moderated by:
Tracey Ross, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for American Progress