Case managers are a central component of Promise Neighborhoods, a US Department of Education–funded grant program that provides cradle-to-career services and supports to marginalized young people and families. This brief explores the role of case managers, who coordinate delivery of services and interventions to some students and families, among Promise Neighborhoods, highlighting cross-cutting practices, and trends across 12 current and one former grantee. We find that case managers primarily advance academic results by fostering deep connections with students and their families, as well as schools and community institutions. Several grantees use case managers to extend the reach and impact of the Promise Neighborhood and to center racial equity through culturally specific practices.

We collected job descriptions for Promise Neighborhoods’ case manager positions so other communities could adapt them for their own use