Overviews the Promise Neighborhoods Program, which seeks to create a comprehensive pipeline of educational and community supports to make certain that children reach their full potential.

The Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink created this document to flesh out the meaning of evidence-based practice (EBP), the idea to invest resources and energy in programs, services, and explore policies with empirical evidence demonstrating success. Increasingly, funders are encouraging grantees to use these evidence-based approaches. The Promise Neighborhoods program exemplifies this shift.

Created by Bridgespan for the Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink, this 2010 guide is designed to help you hone your decision-making process so that you can focus on the issues that matter most to your initiative’s success.

Created by the Harlem Children’s Zone, PolicyLink, and the Center for the Study of Social Policy, with contributions by Child Trends, this document was released at the “Changing the Odds” conference in 2009 to advance the discussion about how a focus on results would contribute to the federal initiative.

This brief is based on the notion that college is possible not only for students who attend excellent primary and secondary schools but also those who struggle in under-­‐performing public schools. Using the Harlem Children’s Zone® (HCZ®) as a case study, it explores the theory and practice behind this approach; summarizes results, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations for other communities interested in this approach; and offers examples of three students whose lives changed because of HCZ’s student support strategy. This brief is part of a series, Building the Pipeline: Effective Practice Briefs, which provides guidance on aspects of Promise Neighborhoods.

The Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink and the Strive National Network collaborated to produce a white paper on strategies for aligning these two important education efforts in communities.

Part I is designed to help Promise Neighborhoods systematically identify and address barriers to improve the outcomes of black male children in their communities. It offers step-by-step instructions for assessing their needs and recommends a results-based framework for using this information to make a positive impact in their lives, from cradle to college to career. In doing so, this document describes how to build the infrastructure to plan and implement targeted interventions for children who need them most.

At PNI, we believe that the problems of distressed communities are complex; and that the solutions must match this complexity. In order to turn a curve on the 10 results and 15 indicators, each indicator must have the appropriate mix of solutions that include families, programs, policies and systems changes.

This “Peer Learning Tool” is intended to briefly highlight examples of promising solutions for achieving the Promise Neighborhoods results, as well as the competencies needed to implement them effectively and sustain the work over time, that were taken from communities utilizing the Promise Neighborhoods approach who were willing to share their experiences with their colleagues.

The tool is organized in two parts: one including promising practices related to the Promise Neighborhoods results and associated indicators, and another describing efforts to build the competencies necessary to achieve better results and scale the work over time. For a given result area or competency there is an entry that includes a brief description of the efforts of one or more Promise Neighborhoods in that area as well as a contact person who can be reached to learn additional details.

Created by Bridgespan for the Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink, this 2010 guide is designed to help you hone your decision-making process so that you can focus on the issues that matter most to your initiative’s success.