America’s Promise: Still Making Good on Its Pledge

To the Editor:

In his October 7 commentary, Pablo Eisenberg raised the question of whether it was time to close down America’s Promise–The Alliance for Youth (“Is It Time to End the Promise?,” Opinion).

Organizations from every sector of society, it seems to me, answer that question every time they join our ranks. Businesses and associations, educational and faith-based communities, non-profit groups and governments at every level are answering our call to intervene in the lives of youth: more than 30 new groups in the last few months, more than 470 national partners at present.

Also, communities across the country answer the question at the grassroots level. Since our “Report to the Nation” last May, more than 100 communities have become new members of our Alliance. Today, there are 480 such communities, with representation in 48 states. They replicate our national model locally by engaging thousands of organizations and individuals to reverse the increasing number of kids headed for disaster.

Despite our successes, we have our critics. Many of them challenge our charter and our mission. Our goal is help kids gain access to the five resources we believe they need to succeed — an ongoing relationship with a caring adult, safe places with structured activities during non-school hours, a healthy start, marketable skills, and a chance to give back.

We ask our partners to make firm pledges to provide these resources to kids. To be sure, some commitments are more comprehensive than others. But any solid contribution is worth encouraging.

We don’t publicize commitments seeking credit for ourselves. Rather, we look to win recognition for our partners, since their examples inspire others.

We don’t compete with youth-service providers or duplicate efforts. Rather, we foster collaboration. Ultimately, we’re the catalyst increasing capacity, connecting more kids with more resources.

One of our latest commitments, for example, is from the American Hotel & Motel Association. That organization has committed 1,500 hotels in 165 cities to reach out to 1 million children in the year 2000, and 4,500 hotels in 410 cities to help 2.5 million youth the following year. Association members will offer paid internships, career days, and skills clinics. Facilities will be used for after-school activities and health screenings. Employees will serve as mentors for young people.

Will the lives of all the children be changed because of these efforts? Of course not. But the program is bound to make a difference for some kids and some adults, and it clearly demonstrates the impact that one organization can generate.

Such commitments recapture our sense of community. New partnerships are forming, new ways of thinking are taking root. For the first time on a national level, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters are working together. They’ve united for a mentoring initiative; we helped make the match. Best of all, the pilot programs are being funded by another Alliance member, the Pillsbury Company, which is also supplying the mentors.

People directly engaged in our effort answer the question when they cite our value. Betty Beene, president of United Way of America, recently noted that although many non-profit organizations have long been working to improve the lives of youth in our nation, there was not a movement of organizations all pulling in the same direction. America’s Promise, she says, “has forged a common set of goals to rally around.”

To answer the question: No, it’s not time to end the promise. Our work is not done. Millions of kids are still in need. So, we’ll continue to motivate organizations and mobilize communities. And we’ll empower more individuals, too. With help from America Online, citizens nationwide will soon be able to contribute time, treasure, and talent in innovative and effective ways using our Web site. And, we’ll continue to support new initiatives, like the recent PowerUp alliance with America Online and other partners to eliminate the digital divide.

We’ve experienced some growing pains and continue to learn. We may never have the numerical data to quantify the positive feedback we receive each day. The final results of our efforts won’t be apparent for 10 to 15 years, when kids become successful adults. But, we believe we’re serving a purpose and helping to transform lives of need into lives of character and competence.

We’ll continue to encourage Americans to point kids in the right direction. If something better comes along, we’ll move over. But for now, we’ll march on.

Gen. Colin L. Powell, Retired
Chairman
America’s Promise–The Alliance for Youth
Alexandria, Va.

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To the Editor:

Pablo Eisenberg’s recent opinion column contained several gross errors of fact and characterization about a performance-measurement study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for America’s Promise–The Alliance for Youth. Since Mr. Eisenberg took neither the time nor the care to speak with PricewaterhouseCoopers about our study, I would like to set the record straight.

Between February and May 1999, PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted a pro bono performance-measurement study for America’s Promise. PricewaterhouseCoopers has conducted performance-measurement studies for many private-sector and public-sector organizations. These studies are intended to determine an aggregate, quantitative measure of an organization’s performance.

Typically in these studies, organization-specific data are gathered and reviewed to determine measures of an organization’s performance. In addition to providing a benchmark of performance, these studies also routinely seek to develop a set of recommendations intended to enable an organization to enhance its ability to measure its performance in the future.

A performance-measurement study is not a certified audit. These studies measure selected data that meet certain criteria and clearly defined study methodology. The underlying data used for the study are neither audited nor certified for purposes of determining performance measures.

The performance-measurement study that PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted for America’s Promise measured the value of charitable commitments made by America’s Promise’s commitment makers, expressed in terms of both the number of times a commitment maker has reached a child and the dollar value of commitments, as reported by the commitment makers. PricewaterhouseCoopers unequivocally stands behind the finding of this performance-measurement study.

Paul Lawrence
Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Arlington, Va.

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To the Editor:

For the past two years I have been the voluntary co-chair of Philadelphia’s Promise, an outpost of America’s Promise. Because of that involvement, I was deeply disturbed by your recent column.

The concept of America’s Promise, first professed by the late George Romney, was that of a catalyst that would energize people to volunteer and help establish networks that would harness this American willingness to serve the enormous needs of America’s youth. General Powell’s ability to inspire and lead was and is a tremendous plus because it energized and excited large numbers of people to participate and to help build the networks.

A catalyst increases the rate at which a chemical reaction takes place. It precipitates a process. It is often much smaller than the two elements that cause the reaction. When the event occurs and great things happen, the question of who gets credit for it is fundamentally moot. Who cares? All three are essential.

In Philadelphia, we have a small paid staff and an annual budget of about $100,000. I am a retired corporate C.E.O., and my co-chair is the president of the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. We started by asking companies and not-for-profits to make commitments for new services and new involvement in community service. We found corporations that were eager to be involved, and not-for-profits that were doing exactly the kinds of things that the corporations wanted to support.

We put them together. We asked I.B.M. to help us create a Web site to help us track and report. At the end of two years, these companies and not-for-profits reported an increase in the number of people served in one or more of America’s Promise’s priorities. The number of children who had mentors and tutors, for example, increased by 20,000.

Was there duplication by organizations who provided services in another of the priorities? Probably. Was there some inflation of the numbers? Perhaps, but our staff was careful not to accept numbers they couldn’t verify.

Our staff also worked with the Philadelphia School District, which became the first “District of Promise” in the United States. The school district committed to include a community-service element and evaluate each child as he or she completed fourth, eighth, and 12th grade. That is 215,000 children who are being introduced to community service. Those numbers are not included in our totals.

The upshot of all this was recognized by Mayor Edward Rendell on the occasion of our second anniversary, when he said, “Philadelphia’s Promise should not just be judged on the tangible results but on the emotional feel of the city.

“Have the Presidents’ Summit and the Promise changed attitudes in the city about rolling up your sleeves and volunteering to help kids? The answer to that is an overwhelming Yes. … There is a new spirit of giving back to the community.”

I am enormously proud of Philadelphia’s Promise and of America’s Promise. I believe that if it is evaluated using a catalytic model, it will be recognized for the enormous contributions it has made.

John A. Miller
Co-Chair
Philadelphia’s Promise
Philadelphia

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To the Editor:

In my years as a journalist, covering many trials and public hearings, and my more than 25 years as a not-for-profit executive, participating in countless board and committee meetings, I know that people can witness the same events and processes and describe them differently. Perhaps my organization’s experience with America’s Promise–The Alliance for Youth and Pablo Eisenberg’s recent Chronicle offering is just such an example.

Unlike the reporting and glitz that are faulted in the article, I have found the staff at America’s Promise to be highly professional and responsive, without exception. Rather than hog the limelight, America’s Promise has gone to extraordinary lengths to give great visibility to my organization’s commitment, which has allowed us to more than triple the number of scholarships provided to high-school seniors in just one year. If anything, America’s Promise has inspired us to reach higher than we might have without them.

Our program, “Imagine America,” has received national recognition from other groups as well, so it is not possible to attribute all of our success to being a commitment maker to America’s Promise. Would we have reached the same level and been inspired to expand as rapidly without America’s Promise? Absolutely not.

General Colin Powell is not a limitless resource. As one of our country’s most respected leaders, his presence makes each event special. Without his commitment, America’s Promise would not have grown to its present level. I have seen and heard nothing that leads me to believe that it is anyone’s objective to have the organization’s mission and vision fade away when General Powell moves on to other opportunities.

America’s Promise has singularly provided a heightened national focus on youth. Many organizations and coalitions have properly focused elsewhere. That in no way lessens the value of the leadership America’s Promise is providing. I doubt that many organizations could have grown from concept to this level of reality in just three years. From that perspective, it appears to me that the organization is a significant and worthwhile partner to hundreds of organizations across the country, including ours.

Walter H. Biddle
Executive Director
Career Training Foundation
Washington

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To the Editor:

Pablo Eisenberg points out the weaknesses of America’s Promise but fails to give credit to its remarkable success in helping get Americans to take a greater interest in our young.

Of course General Powell’s imperfect group should be more open. Of course he has missed serving some disadvantaged youth.

However, directly and indirectly, he has served a substantial number. Many of those corporations and individuals he has enlisted in this drive have already been serving or have failed to serve effectively, but many more are new contributors of time and money.

Perhaps the Boys & Girls Clubs are not Mr. Eisenberg’s service vehicles of choice, but they do deliver help, and their ability to do so is being enhanced by Colin Powell.

Too often, Mr. Eisenberg finds the glass of organized philanthropy to be half empty when it is really half full.

Charles U. Daly
Director
John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Boston