Promise Neighborhoods is a federal place-based initiative striving to turn neighborhoods of concentrated poverty into neighborhoods of opportunity. The program’s vision is to ensure that all children growing up in Promise Neighborhoods have access to great schools and strong family and community support systems that will prepare them to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and a career.

The Urban Institute plays multiple roles in supporting these important initiatives, including providing technical assistance to all grantees and supporting and documenting individual local initiatives.

National Technical Assistance

Under a contract with the US Department of Education, the Urban Institute provides technical assistance on programming, data collection, community outreach, and sustainability to Promise Neighborhoods implementation grantees across the country. Urban’s technical assistance includes guidance on data collection strategies and data system structures to manage and produce measurable results, guidance on data security and confidentiality and data sharing practices, a national leadership conference and leadership training, site visits, webinars, and virtual peer-learning communities.

Urban annually assesses each grantee’s progress in achieving systems changes and producing measurable results and presents that information to the Department of Education.

Guidance Documents and Briefs

• Youth Engagement in Collective Impact Initiatives

• Evaluating Programs and Impact within Promise Neighborhoods

• Advancing Results through Leadership Development: Reflections on Technical Assistance for the Promise Neighborhoods Program

• Advancing Results through Case Managers

• Promise Neighborhoods website

• An Annotated List of Promise Neighborhoods Resources

• Continually Improving Promise Neighborhoods: The Role of Case Management Data

• Measuring Performance: A Guidance Document for Promise Neighborhoods on Collecting Data and Reporting Results

• Preparing and Fielding High-Quality Surveys: Practical Strategies for Successfully Implementing Neighborhood and School Climate Surveys in Promise Neighborhoods

• Promise Neighborhoods Frequently Asked Questions

• Promise Neighborhoods Restricted-Use Data Files: Technical Specification and Requirements

• Promise Neighborhood Target Setting Guidance

• Resources for Place-Based Initiatives

• Six Steps to Success: Collecting and Using Performance Data in Place-Based Initiatives

• Sharing Results: A Guide for Communicating Promise Neighborhoods Outcomes to Diverse Audiences

Features and Videos

• Creating Lasting Change through Community Leadership

• A New Day for Data: How Promise Neighborhoods are transforming lives

• How to use case management data, YouTube video

Blog Posts

• Using data to make a difference for Boston-area students at risk of homelessness

• Long-term change takes real-time data

• U-turn now: A GPS for neighborhood change

• Who cares about data?

• Interview: Measuring the Promise of Promise Neighborhoods

Local Technical Assistance

Independent of the charge from the US Department of Education, Urban Institute also supports and documents individual local initiatives. In some cases, Urban researchers provide direct data collection, performance management, and evaluation support for local initiatives. In others, Urban documents promising practices in other independent cradle-to-career initiatives.

Reports and Briefs

• Making a Difference with Data: NNIP and Federal Place-Based Initiatives

• Supporting Place-Based Initiatives: Revitalizing San Antonio's EastPoint

• Astoria Houses Neighborhood Survey for Zone 126 Promise Neighborhood

• From Cradle to Career: The Multiple Challenges Facing Immigrant Families in Langley Park Promise Neighborhood

• Supporting Place-Based Initiatives: Data-Driven Promise in the District of Columbia

• Helping Children Succeed: Data and the DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative

• Bringing Promise to Washington, DC: The DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative

• DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative: Needs Assessment and Segmentation Analysis

Blog Posts

• A Promise Kept -- Maryland nonprofit brings Promise Neighborhood planning grant to Langley Park (2013)