Chicago Communities Overlooked for Promise Neighborhood Grant

Chicago Communities Overlooked for Promise Neighborhood Grant

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Four Chicago community groups will not be getting the federal Promise Neighborhood grants they’d hoped for.

The Obama administration initiative is designed to replicate the educational work of the Harlem Children’s Zone.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says they had over 300 applicants and money to fund only 21 programs in cities across the country.

Adolfo Hernandez of the Logan Square Neighborhood association says putting together a Promise application helped them in the long run.

HERNANDEZ: I think we took stock of what we were doing and we realized that we were doing big chunks of this work already. So in some ways we are already a promise neighborhood in that we do make a commitment to our community and our students and their parents. And we’re really proud of that piece and we look forward to opportunities to expand our work.

Englewood, Roseland and Woodlawn community organizations also submitted proposals.

Groups who didn’t get grants this year will be eligible to apply for a second round next year.