Breaking the Poverty Cycle: a Washington Community’s Battle Plan

The Federal Government’s Goal

To promote Promise Neighborhoods that will offer “cradle to college” services to help children in troubled communities do well in school so they can enter college and find a career.

About the Federal Grant

• A project in the District of Columbia received a $500,000 grant from the Department of Education to spend one year devising a plan to create a Promise Neighborhood in the Parkside-Kenilworth community

• It was one of 21 winners selected from 339 applications

• Its grant-application score from a group of peer reviewers was 98.33 out of 100

About the Neighborhood

Parkside-Kenilworth is in the far eastern section of Washington.

• About 6,000 residents, most of whom are black, live in the neighborhood

• It is geographically isolated from the heart of Washington and lacks basic amenities like grocery stores, medical clinics, and libraries

• 50 percent of residents lived below the poverty line in 2005-9

• 25 percent of births were to teenage mothers, double the city average, in 2007

• 69 percent of births were to single mothers in 2007

• The neighborhood was named a “high health risk” area in a 2009 survey of children’s health

• 20 percent of the neighborhood’s adults did not have a job in December 2009*

*In a larger Washington neighborhood area that includes Parkside-Kenilworth

The Key Players

César Chávez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy is leading the planning effort with about 70 churches, nonprofits, businesses, foundations, residents associations, and others. Playing a key role are:

• Children’s National Medical Center

• Community College of the District of Columbia

• District of Columbia mayor’s office and public-school authorities

• District of Columbia Housing Authority

• East River Family Strengthening Collaborative

• Kenilworth and Neval Thomas public elementary schools

• Georgetown University

• United Planning Organization/Bounce Learning Network/Educare

• Urban Institute

Sources of Support

Following are the organizations or individuals that contributed at least $25,000 to match the $500,000 federal grant:

• Annie E. Casey Foundation

• District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education

• Lois and Richard England Family Foundation

• Fred T. Goldberg Jr. and Wendy Goldberg

• Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Washington program

• JPMorgan Chase Foundation

• Linda Joy and Kenneth Jay Pollin Memorial Community Development

• Prince Charitable Trusts

About This Series

This is the first in a yearlong series of reports from The Chronicle about the D.C. Promise Neighborhood Initiative, one of 21 projects across the country that have received federal grants to plan antipoverty projects modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone