Neighborhood Revitalization: White House Moving Forward with Place-Based Strategies

When the Department of Education announced the 21 Promise Neighborhood communities that received planning grants; it situated this program within a larger federal goal of transforming distressed neighborhoods into neighborhoods of opportunity. This goal is to be implemented in large part by the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, an interagency collaborative that seeks to transform distressed communities into ones of opportunity by coordinating federal resources and policy.

Led by the White House Domestic Policy Council, White House Office of Urban Affairs, and the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Education, Justice, Health and Human Services and Treasury, the Initiative is charged with the responsibility of developing and executing the Administration’s place-based strategies to revitalize neighborhoods. This Initiative recognizes the need for federal resources to stand behind local efforts to build communities that support success from cradle to career.

As stated in its description, the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative is operating under a theory of change that “an integrated, coordinated effort to increase the quality of a neighborhood’s educational and developmental, commercial, recreational, physical, and social assets, sustained by local leadership over an extended period, will improve resident well-being and community quality of life.” It will focus on four key areas:

1) Integrating place-based programs in distressed neighborhoods, including such federal programs as Promise Neighborhoods, Choice Neighborhoods, Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation programs, and Community Health Centers;

2) Coordinating peer review, alignment of program goals and requirements, and a shared theory of change;

3) Creating incentives at the agency level to encourage local communities to develop plans, build organizational capacity, and establish accountability mechanisms; and

4) Supporting integrated technical assistance to implement interventions

CSSP has a long history and commitment to supporting local efforts to transform communities into places of opportunity. As part of our efforts to continue ensuring that communities have the resources they need to do this work, CSSP has joined several national organizations in launching the National Neighborhood Alliance and is partnering with the Harlem Children’s Zone and PolicyLink to be a resource for communities seeking to meet the goals of the Promise Neighborhoods grant through the Promise Neighborhoods Institute.